Project MoDEL

Project MoDEL (Ministry of Defence Estates London) is a project run for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) by the ministry's Defence Infrastructure Organisation and VSM Estates, a joint venture established between Vinci PLC and St. Modwen Properties to bid for the contract. The project involves the consolidation and sale of surplus Ministry of Defence properties around Greater London into around £180m of new developments at RAF Northolt. A total of 80% of the existing buildings at RAF Northolt were demolished and replaced by the newly built facilities.

Under the project, the Royal Air Force was required to close two active stations, two other sites were vacated by the United States Air Force, and the remainder by Ministry of Defence operations.

The project was formed on 29 October 2002 to act on the recommendations of the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, specifically to reduce the number of defence sites in the Greater London area. RAF Northolt, the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich and RAF Uxbridge were initially selected as core sites, for which British and American units would move into. The Royal Air Force would have left RAF Uxbridge, allowing the US Air Force and Navy to move from RAF Daws Hill, RAF Blenheim Crescent and RAF West Ruislip. Units from Uxbridge would move to RAF Northolt and the Royal Artillery Barracks, while RAF Bentley Priory would close within ten years.

In 2006, the project was confirmed to involve the closure of RAF Uxbridge, RAF Eastcote, RAF Bentley Priory, Inglis Barracks and Victoria House, with RAF Northolt the sole core site for unit relocations. The first site to be sold was RAF Eastcote in January 2007. Funds raised from the sale of sites would then be reinvested into the redevelopment work at RAF Northolt. Following the relocation of units, RAF Northolt would become the base for 40 units in total of the RAF, Royal Navy and the British Army.

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