£86-million storage facility the size of 12 football pitches, or 75,000-metre-squared, is being built in Longtown, Cumbria.

The £86m contract with Glasgow-based construction and civil engineering company McLaughlin & Harvey will strengthen industrial activity across the UK, supporting approximately 150 high-quality, skilled jobs in Scotland and a further 300 in the North of England, growing the economy across both sides of the border, say the Ministry of Defence.

“Due to complete in early October 2024, the new facility will be a key asset in supporting the armed forces on operations. The facility will provide safe and secure storage for equipment used by all three services such as engines and other large spare parts in the defence inventory.

Known as the MOD Distribution Centre (North), the Longtown facility will be the size of 12 football pitches and be built on a brownfield site within the Longtown estate. The build will provide greater resilience for UK Defence by enhancing MOD’s existing strategic warehouse sites in both Shropshire and Oxfordshire and will also allow older warehousing to be retired.”

John Farrow, DE&S Director Logistics and Support Operating Centre, said:

“The new warehouse will provide the UK with additional modern storage facilities, building on the success of similar facilities in Donnington, that will ensure assets are available more rapidly to meet surges in demand. This contract represents a fantastic example of the progress we have made in developing and implementing fit-for-purpose facilities that is helping to accelerate our mission of equipping and supporting our UK armed forces today and tomorrow.”

Minister for Defence Procurement, James Cartlidge, said:

 “I am delighted that work is being done at DM Longtown by McLaughlin and Harvey. Longtown is a hugely important, strategic facility and contributes much to the operational capability of Defence. This work also highlights the number of people at the facility who work cross-border and that Defence is a pan-UK business, involving contractors from right across the UK, to keep its people and allies safe.”

Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, said:

 “I welcome this multi-million-pound UK Government defence investment and the hundreds of jobs it will support in Scotland and Cumbria. This giant facility will help ensure kit used by our armed forces is stored in the best possible condition and can be deployed speedily. The Ministry of Defence invests more than £2 billion annually with industry and commerce in Scotland and this project is another great example of how such expenditure is growing the economy and creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country.”

The facility reaches completion in late 2024.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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104 COMMENTS

  2. Interesting. AFAIK Longtown and it’s satellite site at Eastriggs had only been used for munitions storage previously.
    Longtown is a huge site with its own railway network, and link to the WCML, so a site of strategic importance that needs investment.

    • This has got to be a BW, spend to save, project.

      I can see how a decent warehouse would be

      – not that expensive to build; and
      – cheaper to run; and
      – pleasanter to work in; and
      – better at keeping kit stored properly; and
      – generally more efficient; and
      – better fire suppression etc

      • It’s called consolidation. Or placing all of ones eggs in one basket so the enemy can destroy almost everything with one strike. Peacetime thinking like this could be our downfall.

      • Maybe the inside of the warehouse will be ‘kitted out’ like an Amazon warehouse? Robots picking, robots moving stock around, and a few humans to pack the smaller stuff?

        • Many years ago I worked in an underground facility in Wiltshire. Go through a door and a short tunnel and you were in a wartime ammunition depot. Still in good nick, with a train station (and a turntable for the engine), barrack rooms, medical area, etc. And racks upon racks, tier upon tier, of shelving; enough to store thousands of shells and other items. You could shine a torch and you couldn’t see the end of the racks. Trains would come in off the main line and stop deep inside the tunnel, where bods would unload the ammo and, somehow, get it all up to those racks (probably manually).
          I can well imagine that facility still exists, sealed off, and still under care and maintenance.

          • It does. I’ve stood at that very door you mention. That area is abandoned, and much of the wider UG is C&M as you say.

            There are several other organisations at
            the wider surface facility, over 3 sites, that are v much active. Indeed, it’s one of the most vital sites in the country.
            One part of the underground, district 9 I recall, is sealed off from other areas and still in use for a particular function.

          • Correcting my post. I’ve stood at A door, probably not the one you refer to. The one I had in mind is next to the tunnel entrance off the railway, and has a sign “Key with MDP**********:

          • Back in the 1970s, Peter Laurie’s book “Beneath the City Streets” was a fascinating investigation into the UK’s nuclear war resilience, including certain facilities in the West alluded to here. If I remember right, he came to the conclusion that the resulting ‘hardened’ government was likely to be more useful in the case of widespread civil unrest than in a nuclear war, which would pretty much wipe us out. No doubt that’s why we still have such limited national air defence capabilities.

          • Read it cover to cover numerous times.
            After it came War Plan UK by Duncan Campbell, another good one.
            I’m still looking for Lauries reference to the “best protected spot” west of London where the treasures were kept.

            I don’t think that was Corsham. That area, though vast, is in quarries barely 100 foot below ground. CGWHQ was in Spring Quarry, CDCN in Brown’s Quarry. All vulnerable to a direct hit. Hardly Cheyenne Mountain or Mt Weather. Just converted WW2 arms factories. As you say, despite the fact tens of thousands were to be evacuated there, vulnerable.

            Dispersal is a better option, such as the RSGs.

            Other sites of interest, Blanaeu Ffestiniog held the national galleries paintings I believe, and the Gas factory at Mold.

            Laurie also made reference to other sites that have never been found.

          • RAF Chilmark had the railway access and various sub surface and surface bunkers, as well as a RSG nearby. But AFAIK not the type of underground workings Crabfat has in mind.
            Part of it is now used in another security capacity.

          • Nope. West Dean was another DM – Defence Munitions, Site. Again recall it had railway access and as usual for ammunition facilities the semi sunken bunkers for storage built into the surrounding hills.

            The place Crabfat has in mind, you only see the occasional air vent to give away that an UG facility is beneath.

          • Ha, yes. Though do they even have the range? Unless ships or on the ground teams can launch them.

            Never mind storage facilities, there are hundreds of installations to choose from, and you can not cover them all.

            Would be interesting to write up a priority list. Would be even more interesting to see the MoD doc listing the UKs KPs.

          • The Farmers or the Lancets?

            I’d say port’s and the channel tunnel would be high priority targets for sure.

          • Not sure how you’d destroy the Tunnel. Presumably being an undersea tunnel means both ends are quite solidly built? You’d need some real heft to put either end out of action

          • It’s about 6km from the tunnel entrance to the sea on the UK side, and over the course of it’s entire length it only drops about 115 meters below sea level, I think by the time the channel tunnel hits sea level it’s about 50ish meters below the ground. Anyway, point being, the tunnel isn’t that deep for quite a ways.

            It’s also a fixed, immobile, high traffic location, with proven military applicability and a major logistics hub (look at it on Google Maps, it’s massive)

            It’s a chonky structure, but not hardened against bunker busting munitions, a GBU-28 or two will put the tunnel out of action and require some serious engineering teams to repair it.

          • Toby J, who’s to say that charges were not included in its build by a private company as a precaution !
            Won’t be the first time the powers that be have covered the own backside😉

          • Hi Daniele, having called out Michelle Scrogham for not having a scoobies about Defence – prospective MP for Furness – I’ve been kicked out of the Labour Party.

            I did try.

          • Yep. Prospective Labour MP for Barrow in Furness.

            Was bullied because she doesn’t understand Defence terminology.

            Woke world.

          • I asked her how many SSN were tied up alongside. She replied there is always one at sea…

            She then said people at the shipyard didn’t understand the difference.

            In writing She then denied she had ever said that.

            Her prospective constituency: Barrow in Furness and surroundings.

            Best known for building?

    • Daniele. It was an RAF site with engines for any RAF aircraft through to socks.

      Much was sold off to become a business hub and I’m not sure about WCML connection.

      Govt. ineptitude on a huge scale.

    • It used to be far bigger Daniele – MOD sold it off and its now a massive industrial /retail park.

      14 MU had loads of hardened units.

  3. Curious how this compares with the DFC at Donnington.
    I understand Stafford also stores stuff alongside the two main sites at Bicester Graven Hill and Donnington.
    There are also several smaller sites.

  4. Seeing how logistics hubs are being hammered in Ukraine and Russia by cruise and ballistic missiles, that’s one juicy basket of eggs. We lack GBAD in depth.

  5. Although the defence budget has not risen, these types of project signal a change in direction. MOD’s stockpiles and storage capacity had largely fallen to nothing or dereliction. This shows preparation for a future in which defence will be a higher priority. Much of Wallace’s last DCP was focused on these preparations. A good parting shot.

  6. Obviously it’s a good thing for the MoD to invest in logistics. But with many eggs in one basket I worry this will be a very tempting target for any future enemy.

    • Well the army will just have to manage with bacon, sausage, beans and powder eggs until a new supply arrives.
      It is a lot of eggs that will fit in there.

  7. This is a disaster waiting to happen. It needs to be dispersed into several widely separate units with some of it underground.
    At present its what Putin calls a big target!
    Has everyone in MOD lost their heads?

    • Its a sign of the times – a small number of significant sites. We have only got two Typhoon airbases, one RAF AT base, one submarine base, two (major) surface ship naval bases etc. Also defence industry is not especially dispersed.

      Perhaps no-one at the top thinks the UK will ever get attacked by missiles or bombs?

      • Hate to be a doom-monger. But it would be so easy to build a or a number of home made RC airplane/s. Fitted with a first person view camera and filled with home made explosives, nails, incendiaries etc. Pretty certain, our Country’s forces would not be capable of a) detecting it and b) shooting it down. There are too many juicy targets that are entirely undefended against such an attack.

        • The cost of reopening underground sites to mitigate such an attack would be great.
          Places such as Mitcheldean and the admiralty tanks at Portsdown spring to mind.

          • What was the site about 3-4 miles outside Bath to the east of Bath, close to the river Avon called? It was a huge site with lots of underground storage, then of course there were the really big underground sites in Wiltshire as well. All decommissioned but potentially could be recommissioned if need arose.

          • Assume you mean at Corsham. It consisted of Rudloe Manor, Copenacre, Hawthorn Site, HMS Royal Arthur, and Basil Hill Barracks.
            Today, it’s simply called MoD Corsham. Further east is Monckton Farliegh.

          • Also had a long history of UFO conspiracy theories which are really funny to listen too if you’ve been down there!

          • I know them well, as that is a field I study.
            They’re actually not all conspiracies, as Rudloe Manor Site housed RAF P&SS, Provost and Security Services. ( It then moved to Henlow and now is renamed elsewhere.)
            It is well known P&SS collected UFO reports, the better quality ones of which were forwarded to DI55, and which have never seen the light of day.
            There are indeed far more outlandish conspiracies concerning Corsham and UFOs, which to me are bogus.
            The MoD Police knew the bloke publishing them quite well. I only met him the once. He did however publicise a lot of detail around the place which was not well known, CCC for example.
            I’ve been there several times, though by the sounds of it on the other side of the fence to you!!

          • XD Yeah, I’ve done CQB training down in the tunnels a couple times. Had no idea about the UFO conspiracies until afterwards when I heard a podcast about “Rudloe Manor” and it was halfway through that I was like “Oh shit, that’s Corsham.”

            Sadly the Podcast was full of things like “Well the UK military has so many bases around Rudloe..it’s suspicious.”

          • Mathew Williams by any chance? He does the “Secret Vault” vids. He comes out with some outlandish stuff on various places. I used to subscribe and try to put perspective and background knowledge in my comments on his vids, but gave up as the crowd on there were all but ready for revolution and had a very negative view of our military.

          • Monckton Farleigh- thats the place, was a massive ammo silo with huge underground storage bays an internal railway and a branch of the mainline that went right upto its door. The UK has loads of these facilities dotted around- mostly near Bath and Wiltshire where the sand and limestone was easy to excavate and shape into huge caverns.

      • TBF I think there is a general view at the top that the UK will not be under missile or bomb attack, the general concern seems to be more about bridges and railways across rivers in europe being Kinzaled than anything as far back as the UK being hit.

        It’s not entirely unreasonable, the further east the more each blown bridge and bit of infra will be an alliance wide loss, rather than a purely national British one, still, one hell of an assumption to make isn’t it?

        • KInzaled? Thats a new one on me.

          I think our Government is just content that the RAF protects UK airspace and cannot conceive of a missile attack ie that a war of national survival/WW3 is unlikely – it also accounts for why Cold War bunkers have been largely sold off and UKWMO/ROC was disbanded, very soon after 1991, end of Cold war.

          Even the big two (US and Russia) have limited ballistic missile defence due probably to a percption that such attack is unlikely and the cost of providing such defences. Israel has a different view on missile attack, obvs (Iron Dome etc).

          • Kinzahl is an upgraded airlaunched version of the Russian Iskander missile. 🙂

            Yes savings, but also I think everyone “knows” that a) We’re not really in a place to survive a nuclear strike if we get hit and b) there’s a lot of europe to get through before either us or the US are going to be a prime target for conventional weapons.

          • Ah the much vaulted Kinzal hypersonic ballistic missile, accuracy measured in multiple miles. I think unless you have a warehouse the size of the picture above the Kinzal is likely to miss by a mile or 2. I don’t think short of a lucky shot its going to be able to accurately target bridges. Just look at all the missiles Russia has fired off into Ukraine. They still haven’t crippled Ukraine’s power grid or energy infrastructure despite a very desperate attempt last winter to do just that.

          • Thanks. But if Russia is aiming for a city or a troop concentration, then it doesn’t matter if the accuracy is not pin sharp. They will use something else to take out a bridge.

    • Not lost them, no. Thise heads were sold off as part of the Conservative Party programme ” fit for occupation ” paid for by their Russian donors.

  8. It appears to be like a land-based aircraft carrier but without the AD/AS protection.

    Btw, I understood MCLH were based in Norn Irn. At least they were when I had dealings with them and the blokes used to go back there at weekends.

  11. F ing Hell, I used to practise defending 14 MU… which they tore down and sold off.

    Now, they are building…?

    Defence needs taking out of Government hands. It’s not a toy and needs a solid budget.

    • Different site, David. This is at DM, Defence Munitions, Longtown.

      Kineton, Crombie, Glen Douglas, Beith, Coulport, Ernsettle, Gosport are the others in the DM estate, with some smaller places.

      This factory is more akin to the kit stored at Stafford, Bicester, and Donnington.

    • Nagh the Cumbrian hill farmers would rush to the site to defend it, they are armed with 12 bore shotguns and usually highly accurate as long as they haven’t just done the Friday evening quiz night in the local pub. Id think a dozen Cumbrian farmers equals one phalanx system or that sort of 20:1 ratio.

  14. 76 000 square metres! “76 000 metres-squared” would be over 2000 square miles. Why are Brits still unable to deal with metric?

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