Village: A multi-functional hub for the Whole Force
Elevating the lived experience for the Whole Force
Creating value by innovating, together
Designed to create connections, build community and foster morale, Village is a multifunctional hub that incorporates one stop catering, retail and leisure facilities. Our purpose is to create a better quality of life on base and Village is specifically designed to address the most pressing needs of today’s whole force.
Designed to integrate with military life
Village integrates with the specific needs of each site and its customers, offering four key services driven by unique innovation.
- People Engagement: Driving every day, ongoing engagement.
- Physical Environment: Bringing people together to collaborate and boost camaraderie.
- Technology Enablement: Innovation to enable and enhance the user journey and experience.
- Food and Beverage: Scalable and flexible to requirements.
Powered by Deep Understanding of Military Culture
When creating Village, our goal was a solution that addressed specific personnel challenges, focus on needs and requirements to benefit the whole force – from civilians and partners to visitors and subcontractors. Discover how we achieved this.
Recruitment & retention
Retaining talent is one of the top challenges for military leadership and a priority area for the Ministry of Defence. Understanding the reasons why personnel join and why they may choose to leave the military was key to designing our solution. See how the research we conducted with renowned global agencies and UK academics helped to shape our award-winning approach.
Welfare & mental health
The mental health and wellbeing of military personnel has rightly received increasing attention in recent years. Alongside access to high quality mental health services, unit cohesion is a key factor in resilience to mental health problems. Discover how creating a space for community, conversation and bringing people together was at the heart of the Village concept.
Innovation, choice & autonomy
There is a strong connection between nutrition, wellbeing and lifestyle to maintain the physical and mental demands of service personnel. Village brings together a variety of food choices under one roof, from the grab-and-go takeaway and self-cook options right through to our modern café-bar environment. Learn more about how the Worthy Down Village delivers this for the whole force.
Inclusivity & flexibility
Space on barracks can often be limited, so maximising the flexibility around how social areas are used is an essential part of enhancing the overall living experience and embedding inclusivity. See how our modular approach allows for customisation to accommodate the space available and the needs of the community, as well as future-proof it for potential changes to the site.
Case Study: Elevating the Lived Experience
Sodexo worked alongside the Ministry of Defence to leverage insight to inform the concept and design of this new kind of social space that reflects the day-to-day needs of the whole force.
Download the case study to explore how Sodexo and the Ministry of Defence worked together to develop an award-winning multi-functional social hub that puts the wellbeing of service personnel at the heart of life on base.
A solution to benefit the Whole Force
Designed to suit the specific needs of each site and its customers
Village has been designed to overcome key issues identified by the MOD and raised by personnel, offering relevant services throughout the day and creating an environment to offer wide appeal. See how the finished environment addresses the specific challenges with a future proofing approach.
Mental Health in the Military
A career in the Armed Forces is unique, and many thrive on the challenges and pressures of military life. For others though, navigating strict routines, balancing responsibilities at work and home, and dealing with loneliness can be overwhelming.
The wellbeing of personnel is central to the effectiveness of the modern Armed Forces. Sodexo employees are well trained to look out for signals of mental suffering, and signpost to support services; our bespoke tools like Mindful Active also help to support mental and physical wellbeing.
Defence Services
Latest News
Sodexo’s Village wins Workplace Experience award at leading FM awards
The prestigious IWFM (Institute of Workplace and FM) Impact awards 2021 saw Sodexo win four accolades including one for its exciting new one-stop multi-functional Village which has been developed to improve the lived experience of service personnel.
Futuristic ‘Village’ concept launches at Worthy Down Station
Constantly evolving its defence services to meet the needs of today’s military, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), supported by its partner Sodexo, has launched ‘Village’ – a new concept that incorporates one stop catering, retail and leisure facilities at Worthy Down Station in Hampshire.