First Military Accommodation Trial Launches At Clyde Naval Base

The first Future Accommodation Model (FAM) trial has been launched at Clyde naval base in Scotland.

The pilot will act as a study ahead of the model's full launch and will provide financial support to service personnel who are looking to rent or buy a home within a 50-mile radius of the base.

HM Naval Base Clyde, also known as Faslane, is the first test site in the UK for the FAM, with trials set to be launched in Aldershot and at RAF Wittering from next year.

The launch of the trial is the "latest step in providing greater choice and more flexibility" in the Armed Forces, said Minister for Defence People and Veterans, Johnny Mercer MP.

More than 3,000 sailors, submariners and Royal Marines based at Faslane will be part of the pilot study.

Personnel can still choose to live in single living accommodation or family accommodation, such as the Churchill Housing Estate in Helensburgh.

Rear Admiral Mike Bath, Naval Secretary, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff launching the pilot said: "As part of the wider Armed Forces’ programme to modernise for the 21st century, HM Naval Base Clyde was chosen for this first pilot study due to its strategic importance for Royal Navy operations.

"This includes the relocation of 1,700 submariners from Devonport to the Clyde, as the Scottish site becomes the Royal Navy’s single integrated submarine operating base from 2020."

RAdm Bath said they anticipate that more submariners and their families will choose to move permanently to the West of Scotland, to live, work and put down roots.

The study is expected to last around three years.