170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group was 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 the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

History

Military Works Force

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

Chetwynd Barracks Chetwynd Barracks is a British Army installation at Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, England. HMS ''Sherwood'', a Royal Naval Reserve stone frigate, is located within the barracks. The site will close in 2026. History British Army The Chilwell dep ...

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) ater utilities, water development, and well drilling* 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 2023, 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 Assi ...

) 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, also known as The Iron 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 P ...

. In 2015, the

Army 2020 Refine Army 2020 Refine was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army in the mid-to-late 2010s, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. As its name suggests, it was a "refinement" of Army 2020, an early 2010s reorganisa ...

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

Army 2020 Army 2020 is the restructuring of the British Army in the early and mid-2010s, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. The plan, as its name suggested, was intended to be completed by 2020, though most of its reorganisations ...

reform. Under this refine, the group HQ is to move to

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, and is also due to have a decrease of 9 personnel.

Disbandment

170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group disbanded in September 2022, with all the units resubordinating to 12 (Force Support Engineer) Group.

Structure on disbandment

At disbandment, the group had the following structure; * Group Headquarters,

(Moving to

) ** 43 Headquarters and Support Squadron,

(Moving to

) *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 ...

** ''510 STRESTRE - Specialist Team, Royal Engineers (Air Infrastructure) (Reserve)'' ** 529 STRE (Air Support),

** 531 STRE (Airfields),

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington , commonly known as RAF Waddington, and informally known by its nickname 'Waddo' is a Royal Air Force station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in England. The station is th ...

and

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 h ...

** 532 STRE (Air Support),

** 534 STRE (Airfields),

RAF Wattisham Royal Air Force Wattisham or more simply RAF Wattisham was, between 1939 and 1993, the name of a Royal Air Force station located in East Anglia just outside the village of Wattisham, south of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. During the Cold W ...

and

RAF Marham Royal Air Force Marham, commonly abbreviated RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Marham in the county of Norfolk, East Anglia. It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's ' ...

* 62 Works Group,

(Providing water support) (Moving to

) ** 519 STRE (Works) ** 521 STRE (Water Development) ** 522 STRE (Works) ** 523 STRE (Works) ** 524 STRE (Works) ** ''508 STRE (Works) (Reserve)'' * 63 Works Group,

(Providing power support) (Moving to

) ** 518 STRE (Works) ** 528 STRE (Power) ** ''504 STRE (Power Infrastructure) (V)'' * ''65 Works Group (Reserve),

(Infrastructure support) (Moving to

)'' ** ''506 STRE (Water Infrastructure) (V)'' ** ''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

) ** 517 STRE (Works) ** 530 STRE (Materials)

Commander

Commanders of the Engineer Group included: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 * 2020-2023: Col. Gavin P. Hatcher

Notes

References

Sources

* {{cite book , last1=Watson, first1=Graham E., first2=Richard A., last2=Rinaldi , title=The Corps of Royal Engineers: Organisation and Units 1889-2018 , publisher=Tiger Lilly Books , year=2018 , ISBN=978-1717901804 Military units and formations established in 1978 Groups of the Royal Engineers