Construction of new barracks at the Ämari base under way

Construction launched by Merko at Ämari will improve conditions for conscripts and active-duty personnel as well as NATO forces at the base.

We have entered into a design-build contract with the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (RKIK) under which three new housing facilities will be completed by the end of 2024 on the Ämari base. We will also be establishing utility networks that will allow RKIK to plan other buildings there in future.

According to the portfolio manager of RKIK’s western district, Liisi Hallikma, they plan to invest close to 200 million euros over the next four years: “In 2024–2025, the focus there will be on the Ämari military base to establish better conditions for Defence Forces members for work and training as well as to defend Estonia in a wartime situation. We also plan to renovate the runway, establish a storage area, hangars for aircraft, a food service complex, hangar for equipment and much more.”

In the barracks with a total area of approximately 15,000 square metres, conscripts’ housing facilities, workstations for active-duty personnel and non-work and warehouse spaces will be completed. There will also be additional housing for NATO troops hosted at Ämari.

“We are proud to contribute to raising Estonia’s defence capability. By doing our everyday work well, we will enable Estonia’s defenders to focus on their main work. We have previously successfully built national defence buildings and infrastructure. We believe that cooperation and the result will be good on this occasion, too,” said chairman of the Merko Ehitus Eesti management board Ivo Volkov.

Merko has done construction work at Ämari military base before. In 2009, the warehouse complex hangars for the airbase were built and the electrical system for the traffic area and runway lighting system were rebuilt and in 2010, the storage complex was built and the traffic area was renovated, which landed project manager Tiit Joosti the title of Builder of the Year 2010. In 2018, we built barracks for 320 hosted troops.