170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group is an engineering group of the British Army's

Corps of Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. Today the group controls all of the STREs of the army in addition to 20 Works Group (Air Support), the

Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) is the most senior regiment of the British Army Reserve. The regiment was formed in 1539 during the reign of by King Henry VIII, making it the second oldest regiment of the British Army (The Hono ...

, and 43 HQ and Support Squadron.

History

Military Works Force

In 1978, following the 1975 Mason Review, the Military Works Force was formed at

Chetwynd Barracks Chetwynd Barracks is a military installation at Chilwell in Nottinghamshire. History The Chilwell depot and barracks were built for the Royal Army Ordnance Corps shortly after the First World War on the former site of the National Shell Filling ...

to control the

's works groups. It controlled the specialist engineering units and helped in commanding and providing those special services. The group was originally formed with the control of just two Commanders Royal Engineers (CREs) each with three Specialist Teams Royal Engineers (STREs), but this force was later expanded. At one time, the command controlled 530 STRE (Maintenance), but it is unknown when this STRE was formed, disbanded, and assigned to the group.Watson and Rinaldi, p. 218 The four CREs of the command included; * Headquarters,

* 62 Chief Engineer (Works)

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* 63 Chief Engineer (Works) lectrical power generation and distribution, originally utilities and force protection* 64 Chief Engineer (Works) uels, fuel production, and distribution* ''65 Chief Engineer(Works) (V)'' ivilian infrastructure, railway and ports infrastructure lines of communicationsref name=":0" />

170 Engineer Group

In 2003, the 2003 Delivering Security in a Changing World reforms were announced. By 2005, engineer groups were regulated and renamed, one the changes being the Military Work Force being renamed as 170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group and placed under the 8th Force Engineer Brigade. In addition to the changed of the group, the CRE units were re-titled as Works Groups. The name was also brought to represent the group as a military organisation rather than a civil organisation.Watson and Rinaldi, p.267 Between 2005 and present, the group saw many units come and go, those who were included, but no longer; * 67 Works Group (2011—2015) isbanded under Army 2020* Royal Monmouthshire Militia RE (2013—????) emoved before 2015* Provisional Reconstruction Team (

Operation Herrick Operation Herrick was the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Ass ...

) During the sub-groups' time within the engineer group, many saw themselves take on a territorial, later reserve, specialist team. Following the initial Army 2020 reforms, each works group control a reserve specialist team regularly, as opposed to randomly for deployments. Following these initial reforms, the group was due to take control of the Royal Monmouthshire Militia, but this was reverted in 2015 when the refine announced they were to move under control of Headquarters Royal Engineers,

3rd (United Kingdom) Division The 3rd (United Kingdom) Division is a regular army division of the British Army. It was created in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the Peninsular War, and was known as th ...

. In 2015, the

Army 2020 Refine Army 2020 Refine was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. Army 2020 Refine The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announced that the structure of the Reac ...

was published, as an "updated chapter" to the initial

Army 2020 Army 2020, was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review. Background The British Government gave an indication of its proposals for the future structure of the Army in ea ...

reform. Under this refine, the group HQ is to move to Gamecock Barracks. The group HQ is also due to have a decrease of 9 personnel. Following the reform, the group now has the following structure;Watson and Rinaldi, p. 338 * Group Headquarters,

(Moving to Gamecock Barracks by 2021) ** 43 Headquarters and Support Squadron,

(Moving to Gamecock Barracks by 2021) * 20 Works Group (Air Support),

RAF Wittering Royal Air Force Wittering or more simply RAF Wittering is a Royal Air Force station within the unitary authority area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire. Although Stamford in Lincolnshire i ...

** Group HQ and 529 Airfield STRESTRE - Specialist Team, Royal Engineers ** 531 STRE,

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England. The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target ...

** 532 STRE,

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and ho ...

** 533 STRE,

RAF Wattisham Royal Air Force Station Wattisham or more simply RAF Wattisham is a former Royal Air Force station located in East Anglia just outside the village of Wattisham, south of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. During the Cold War it was a major front ...

** 534 STRE, RAF Marham * 62 Works Group,

(Providing water support) (Moving to Gamecock Barracks by 2021) ** 519 STRE (Works) ** 523 STRE (Works) ** 521 STRE (Water Development) ** ''506 STRE (Water Infrastructure) (V)'' * 63 Works Group,

(Providing power support) (Moving to Gamecock Barracks by 2021) ** 518 STRE (Works) ** 523 STRE (Works) ** 528 STRE (Power) ** ''504 STRE (Power Infrastructure) (V)'' * 64 Works Group,

(Fuel support) (Moving to Gamecock Barracks by 2021) ** 516 STRE (Bulk Petroleum) ** 524 STRE (Works) ** 527 STRE (Works) ** ''503 STRE (Fuels Infrastructure) (V)'' * ''65 Works Group (V),

(Infrastructure support) (Moving to Gamecock Barracks by 2021)'' ** ''507 STRE (Railway Infrastructure) (V)'' ** ''508 STRE (Works) (V)'' ** ''509 STRE (Works Infrastructure) (V)'' ** ''525 STRE (Works) (V)'' ** ''526 STRE (Works) (V)'' * 66 Works Group,

(Air support) (Moving to Gamecock Barracks by 2021) ** 517 STRE (Works) ** 522 STRE (Works) ** 530 STRE (Materials) ** ''510 STRE (Air Infrastructure) (V)''

Commander

Current and former Commanders of the Engineer Group include:Regiments and Commanding Officers, 1960–
* 2005–2008: Col. J. David McIlroy * 2008-2011: Col. W.H. Smith * 2011-2013: Col. Steven P.W. Boyd * 2013–2015: Col. David J. Brambell * 2015–2017: Col. James Crawford * 2017–2020: Col. Peter T. Quaite * 2020–Present: Col. Gavin P. Hatcher

Notes

References

Sources

* Watson, Graham E, and Richard A Rinaldi. ''The Corps of Royal Engineers: Organisation and Units 1889-2018''. Tiger Lilly Books, 2018. {{ISBN, 978-1717901804 Groups of the Royal Engineers Military units and formations established in 1978 Group sized units of the British Army