Royal Marines accommodation in Lympstone reaches milestone

The socially distanced topping out ceremony held at the Royal Marines’ principal training centre in Lympstone means that the building’s framework has now reached its highest point. The event was held in line with the current Covid-19 guidelines.

Representatives from the Royal Marines, Defence Infrastructure Organisation and its contractors Galliford Try and AECOM attended a socially distanced event to mark this achievement and to view progress on the building.

The project is worth approximately £10-million in total and will see the creation of a 181-bed block for junior ranks as well as supporting facilities, such as a communal area and administrative offices, at the site near Lympstone. The accommodation will comprise of 21 eight-bed rooms and one ten-bed unit plus three single Duty of Care rooms for supporting staff. All rooms have been designed so that they can be allocated to either male or female occupants.

The new blocks will house Royal Marine recruits who have either been injured in training or are undergoing remedial professional military training.

Progress has carried on at this important facility in accordance with strict Covid-19 guidelines.

Simon Jones, DIO Project Manager, said:

“This is an incredibly exciting milestone for the project and one we are pleased to be working on with Galliford Try and with our technical support providers Aecom.

“This purpose-built facility will provide modern and essential accommodation to personnel as they recover from injury and undergo rehabilitation on site.

“We are delighted with the progress on the facility to date especially in these challenging times and we look forward to celebrating its completion.”

Mark Wusthoff, Area Director for Galliford Try Building West Midlands & South West, said:

“We were delighted to be able to welcome our partners on site to signify this important milestone, demonstrating the progress we have safely made despite the challenges presented by the pandemic.

“Defence is a key sector for our business and we are looking forward to the successful completion of this project, demonstrating the breadth of our offering to the sector and our capabilities within it.”

ENDS

Further information:

Press enquiries to Becky Robinson, Communications Officer 07989 303297 or email rebecca.robinson137@mod.gov.uk.

DIO website: www.gov.uk/dio
Twitter: @mod_dio.

Read DIO’s blog.

River maintenance works to reduce flood risk at Clayton West

Press release

The Environment Agency will be starting work in the river channel in Clayton West this week to help reduce the risk of flooding in the town.

Gravel deposit build up — Gravel deposits have built up at the bridge and will be removed as part of the work.

These works will take place in the River Dearne at Wakefield Road, Clayton West in Kirklees.

During high river flows it is important to ensure that bridges and the nearby channel don’t restrict the flow of water. To ensure this, gravel deposits will be reduced from areas where it has built up in the river, downstream of the Wakefield Road bridge arches.

This project is part of the £32 million programme of recovery works across Yorkshire to repair defences damaged by the flood event last February. Since November officers have inspected over 3,000 flood defence assets along the Rivers Don, Dearne, Rother and Aire, carried out urgent repairs, and continued work to improve flood defences.

To plan these works, the project team has worked with flood risk, geomorphology and fisheries specialists from the Environment Agency to minimise the impact the reduction of the deposits may have on fish and wildlife in the area. Carrying out the works in September ensures the works are completed before fish spawning periods and the bird nesting season.

Lianne Grogan, Sheffield catchment advisor for the Environment Agency, said:

These works are important as part of our river maintenance programme to help reduce the risk of flooding.

We’ve worked closely with teams to consider flood risk, fish and wildlife, and this approach ensures the works balance the need to improve the flow of water through the river during a flood, whilst also retaining channel gravels for aquatic species.

We can’t entirely prevent flooding from rivers and streams, but we can reduce the likelihood of flooding by ensuring that rivers, becks and streams are free from excess debris and vegetation that might block the watercourse so that in high rain events water remains in the channel.

Works are planned to start from 15 September and expected to take around 2 days depending on weather conditions. The Environment Agency has employed contractors AmcoGiffen to carry out the work. For any enquiries about the work email: SYPSO@environment-agency.gov.uk

Published 16 September 2020

Prednidale 5 mg Tablets – Product defect recall alert 2

News story

Product defect recall alert for Prednidale 5 mg Tablets (Vm 10434/4009) by Dechra Ltd

We wish to make veterinary surgeons aware that Dechra Ltd has issued a recall for the product Prednidale 5 mg Tablets. This recall is due to microbial contamination and is for the following batches only:

119501 Prednidale 5mg Tablets Expiry July 2021
120633 Prednidale 5mg Tablets Expiry October 2021

Dechra Veterinary Products is contacting wholesale dealers and veterinary surgeons to examine inventory immediately and quarantine products subject to this recall.

For further information regarding the recall, please contact Ms Carol Morgan by email carol.morgan@dechra.com.

Published 16 September 2020

Change of Governor of the British Virgin Islands: John Rankin

Press release

Mr John Rankin CMG has been appointed Governor of the British Virgin Islands.

Mr John Rankin CMG has been appointed Governor of the British Virgin Islands in succession to Mr Gus Jaspert. Mr Rankin will take up his appointment in January 2021.

Curriculum Vitae

Full name: John James Rankin

2016 to present	Bermuda, Governor
2016	FCO, Acting Director, Americas Directorate
2015	Kathmandu, Acting Ambassador to Nepal
2011 to 2015	Colombo, British High Commissioner and Non-Resident High Commissioner to the Maldives
2008 to 2010	FCO, Director, Americas
2007 to 2008	FCO, Assistant Director, Human Resources (Operations)
2003 to 2007	Boston, Her Majesty’s Consul General
1999 to 2003	Dublin, Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission
1998 to 1999	Dublin, First Secretary (Political)
1996 to 1998	FCO, Deputy Head, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Council of Europe Department
1994 to 1996	FCO, Senior Assistant Legal Adviser and later Legal Counsellor
1991 to 1994	Geneva, Legal Adviser, UK Mission to the United Nation and to the Conference on Disarmament
1988 to 1991	FCO, Assistant Legal Adviser and later Senior Assistant Legal Adviser
1988	Joined FCO

Published 16 September 2020

Extending the UNSMIL mandate in Libya

Mr President, let me begin by saying that we welcome the very wide support for this resolution today from Council members, but let me also say that I’m surprised by the decision of Russia and China to abstain today.

I listened very carefully to the Russian Ambassador’s explanation of his vote. Council members and Council colleagues will know that once the Russian Federation raised its concerns over the language in the resolution after it had gone on to silence, we were very quick as penholders to accommodate them. We understood the concern around consultation, and that’s why we added new language to the resolution in response. And that new language makes clear that UNSMIL would only be involved in implementing a ceasefire “once agreed by the Libyan parties.” I can’t think of any way in which this does not make clear that there will need to be consultation with the Libyan parties or that they are not responsible for decisions about any ceasefire.

And I listened again to the explanation given by my distinguished colleague from China. There was indeed a number of requests from China to remove language supporting human rights, gender and on conflict-related sexual violence. We did indeed remove a number of those references at the request of China. But other members of the Council feel these are important issues. And although they had compromised in good faith to secure a consensus text, they were not ready to compromise to that degree.

So anyway, it is my hope and I hope I can ask our Russian and Chinese friends to join me in this hope that despite these abstentions, today, all Council members will support the resolution and they will support the new special envoy, who we hope will be appointed soon to work with the Libyan parties and external players to bring about a sustainable political settlement, which is what the Libyan people desperately need.

Thank you, Mr President.