The project
HeliOperations trains and supports search and rescue (SAR) and military helicopter crews for UK and overseas defence clients. Its new purpose-built hangar and aviation training facility is being built on the former Royal Naval Air Station at Portland, continuing the site’s long history as a centre for helicopter aviation.
The scheme combines a long-span, steel-framed helicopter hangar with crew, technical and training accommodation. It is a coastal, airside site with variable ground conditions, so the project demands tight control of programme, cost and contract from day one.
Our role: Project Manager, Quantity Surveyor and Contract Administrator
Rockall Projects acts for HeliOperations in three linked roles, giving the client a single point of control over time, cost and contract:
Project management – planning, procurement, programme control and coordination of the design team, contractor and stakeholders from pre-construction through to handover. See our construction project management service .Quantity surveying – cost planning, tender analysis of specialist packages, interim valuations, variation control and final account.Contract administration – drafting and administering the JCT Standard Building Contract, including instructions, change control, payment certificates, extensions of time and compliance records. See our contract administrator service .
Project scope
Modern, fully serviced, long-span steel-framed helicopter hangar
Dedicated crew facilities, technical accommodation and training space
Secure operational areas and mission planning rooms
Rigid inclusion ground improvement in place of full-depth piling
Apron, drainage and airside infrastructure upgrades
Integration with HeliOperations’ wider Portland estate for streamlined logistics and access
Key challenges and how we manage them
Ground conditions – variable made ground over softer coastal strata. Rigid inclusions with a load transfer platform controlled settlement and were faster, quieter and produced far less spoil than traditional piling.Coastal exposure – steel erection and craneage planned around wind limits, with corrosion protection and coating inspections built into the inspection and test plan.Airside interfaces – works sequenced around live helicopter operations, with permits, isolations and agreed possession windows.Long-lead packages – hangar doors, glazing and specialist M&E tracked on a visible procurement register so lead times never surprise the programme.
What the client gets
Cost visibility – variations priced against evidence, provisional sums held until scope is fixed.Time certainty – an accepted baseline programme, short-interval look-ahead planning and reasoned extension of time decisions.Risk handled early – ground, weather, supply chain and access risks each given an owner and a mitigation.A clean record – instructions, valuations, certificates and minutes forming a single, auditable file.
Strategic importance
The facility is a long-term investment in the UK’s SAR and military helicopter training capability. It supports active international contracts, sustains skilled jobs in Dorset and keeps the former naval air station in aviation use.
For the contract detail, read our case study: JCT contract administration on the HeliOperations hangar .
Planning a complex build on the South Coast? See project management in Dorset or contact Rockall Projects .
