PLANS have been revealed to demolish and replace the accommodation blocks at the military training camp in Garelochhead.

Landmarc Support Services, which provides military training facilities at 85 sites have submitted a proposal to Argyll and Bute Council to remove and replace the four blocks currently on the site as part of its national programme.

The new accommodation, spread over four blocks, would see 16 fewer bed spaces than are currently on site, with a reduction from 432 to 416.

However, a statement from planning agents The Bush Consultancy said that the upkeep of the existing accommodation had failed and that the current buildings are extremely expensive to maintain.

It also said that heating and lighting systems were dated and that there was minimal, if any, insulation, resulting in the current site being highly energy inefficient.

The camp was constructed in 1940 for the Second World War to house a mix of British and Polish army units, and many of its original Nissen huts remain and are still in daily use.

The surrounding area was used extensively as a training area, and just prior to D-Day 22,000 American servicemen were accommodated and trained prior to the operation.

Plans can now be viewed, and comments submitted by the public, at the council’s online planning portal. A decision from planning officers is expected by late September.

The Bush Consultancy said in their statement: “The proposed development site is accessible from the camp’s main entrance and will utilise an existing road network.

“The proposed site is located over/adjacent to some of the existing run down accommodation and ancillary blocks within the centre of the camp.

“The proposed site is surrounded in the immediate proximity by grass landscaping with a number of trees to the west.

“The proposed site isn’t visible from any location around the site. The surrounding area is predominantly training ground and/or agricultural land.”

The statement added: “The accommodation blocks have been designed with the principles of the energy hierarchy, whereby energy associated with heating, ventilation, cooling and lighting energy demand is minimized through a passive fabric first approach.

“A carefully designed fabric first approach will ensure a robust, efficient and sustainable design throughout the lifetime of the building, which is affordable to the developer. Furthermore, it reduces the reliance on technologies, which overtime will require maintenance or replacing.

“To minimise the space heating demand, the u-values, air tightness and thermal bridging factor have been designed to improve upon current regulation standards.

“Heat recovery ventilation is installed to wet rooms to capture some of the heat which would otherwise be wasted, to temperate the incoming fresh air to these spaces.

“The dorm rooms have been designed to achieve good levels of daylighting in accordance with DREAM standards i.e. two per cent average daylight factor.

“The highly efficient LED lighting is paired with daylight sensors, which will automatically switch off the lighting in the room when the room is unoccupied or the daylight is sufficient in the room to further minimise energy use.”

The facility offers units a unique mix of live firing up to platoon level on ranges which include grenade and mortar facilities, a field firing area, ‘dismounted’ (i.e. on foot) infantry dry training to battalion level and adventurous training.

The camp itself can accommodate more than 500 personnel and covers around 8,200 acres (3,320 hectares) of moorland, forest and mountain land.

The plans can be viewed, and comments submitted, by clicking here and searching for the reference number 22/01268/PP.