Our new airbase will improve response times and the delivery of life-saving care across Devon.
Our new airbase will improve response times and the delivery of life-saving care across Devon.
We are embarking on an exciting journey to build a new home for Devon Air Ambulance. This new facility will enable us to continue responding to our communities’ needs, adapt our services, and enhance our ability to provide lifesaving care. It will also support our world-class research and offer tailored post-incident care to our patients and their families.
This investment will strengthen our service, ensuring that we are always there for the people of Devon and the patients who rely on us.
For 35 years, we have proudly served nearly 35,000 patients in Devon and beyond. However, our current facilities are old and outdated and will soon no longer meet our service’s needs.
Devon’s population is projected to increase by 100,000 people over the next 15 years. Over the past decade, the demand for our services has doubled, and we have reached the capacity of our current Exeter airbase.
To continue responding to our future patients and families in the best way we can, we must expand and enhance our facilities.
A new airbase will give us:
- A larger, retrofitted aircraft hangar for our newer aircraft, providing ample space for maintenance and operations.
- A purpose-built training facility for our emergency pre-hospital doctors and paramedics.
- Equipment and infrastructure to support 24/7 operations.
- Dedicated spaces for mission preparation and debriefing.
- Post-incident support areas for our patients and their families.
- Additional spaces for fundraising, training, and community engagement.
- Enhanced visitor areas to help us grow and respond to our communities’ needs.
- Well-being and rest facilities for our crew and clinicians.
The new base will also enhance efficiency by co-locating the charity’s operations and support staff, thereby reducing overhead costs and improving our environmental impact.
Exeter airbase expansion
After five years of intensive searching and negotiation, we are excited to have found the perfect location for our new combined airbase and headquarters, which will be on land next to our current airbase at Exeter Airport. This adjacent land allows us to retrofit the current airbase and enhance the site with an access lane, car parking, external storage, and office facilities.
The site is centrally located in Devon, making it ideal for engaging with a large local community. It will be complemented by our North Devon Eaglescott airbase, which will remain operational as normal and allow us quick response times in northern areas of the county.
An aerial view of the current airbase at Exeter Airport.
Our progress so far
Plans to buy the land and buildings and secure a new ground lease with Exeter Airport are progressing, and we are developing plans for the new airbase, working with ecologists, planning consultants, civil engineers, and other specialists for initial site investigations and to develop the plans, before they are submitted for approval later this spring.
Improving how we work together
By bringing together the teams that deliver the time-critical patient care, and the teams that support these operations, raise the funds to deliver them; work with our volunteers and support our shops, we will be able to work more efficiently, and ultimately deliver an even better service. We know that, in responding to emergency callouts, every second matters and can make a crucial difference for people facing life-changing and life-threatening illnesses and injuries.
The design will streamline everything from swift access to aircraft and Critical Care Cars, to efficient restocking of medical supplies and disposing of clinical waste. It will be organised around how our crew prepares for, sets off on, and returns from a mission.
Having a central base will save time traveling between our airbase, external stores, and headquarters elsewhere for supplies, meetings, or staying connected as teams. Access to our airbase is via the international airport gate, which is subject to extensive security measures, so by having a new access road directly to our HQ and airbase, we can make great time savings in managing day-to-day tasks like deliveries and contractors, invite in more visitors and local community groups, and hold events that support fundraising and promote awareness of our vital service.
From our CEO
‘Building a new home for Devon Air Ambulance is an essential next step in taking our lifesaving charity to the next level, making sure it continues to be there for our patients and communities in the future.
The new building will be a vital asset in the face of increased demand as we strive to support our patients and their families through their recovery, and to maintain and enhance our strong links with our volunteers, community groups, schools and businesses across Devon.
Greg Allen – Devon Air Ambulance CEO
‘Accessing our current airbase is restrictive and challenging for staff as well as for visitors. We will be able to expand into a new purpose-built facility to welcome patients and families, as well as our supporters and volunteers, to meet the team and view the helicopter or Critical Care Car up close to gain a deeper understanding of our operations.’
Our current airbase lacks dedicated training facilities. Although our clinical teams make use of any available space they can, they require a fit-for-purpose area in which to train regularly with a proper equipment storage area.
Not only will a new training area mean our staff can practise and simulate the enhanced and critical care interventions they deliver to patients, but we can also bring in our partners at South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust to train alongside us, upskilling others and building the working understanding that is so vital when tackling time-critical incidents at the scene.
Darren Godwin, Clinical Director, about training spaces for critical care practitioners
An exciting time ahead
There is a lot of exciting work to look forward to. Over the coming year, we’ll be developing and refining our plans for the new HQ building and retrofitted airbase. As we move towards submitting a full planning application, we will keep our partners, supporters and the wider public updated on our progress.
An artist’s view of the public side of the the proposed new airbase
How will we fund it?
Building a new home for Devon Air Ambulance is our most ambitious mission yet; but we know how important it is to ensure we can continue to respond to the needs of our Devon communities.
Developing a new, fit for purpose, combined airbase and headquarters is likely to cost in the region of £9m. Thanks to careful financial management, we’ve already set aside £4.5m to start this work, meaning that we will need to raise the remaining half.
We look forward to sharing more details of our fundraising plans and how you can support later in the year.
The new airbase and head office is an exciting next step for our service and a fundamental one. As crew, we look to every opportunity to enhance efficiency and improve the quality of the care we bring to our patients. The essential improvements made to the base and our way of working will be transformative for staff across the organisation.
Jess Thomas-Mourne, Critical Care Paramedic on why the build is a transformative next step
Visit our news pages for further airbase project updates as we release them.
