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Quarters Renovations Enhance Rota Quality of Life
Story Number: NNS020607-05
Release Date: 6/8/2002 8:00:00 AM
By Photographer's Mate 1st Class (AW) Ron Heppner, Naval Station Rota Public Affairs
ROTA, Spain (NNS) -- Renovations over the past five years to the base bachelor officer quarters (BOQ), chief petty officer quarters (CPOQ) and bachelor enlisted quarters (BEQ) have greatly increased the quality of life for single, unaccompanied and transient personnel at Naval Station, Rota.
According to Roger Loechel, combined bachelor quarter’s officer, the funding and planning for the renovations came from quality-of-life concerns that were raised in the early 1990s.
“The CNO at the time, Adm. Jeremy Borda, tasked Adm. Roberta Hazard with finding out what would improve Sailors’ lives the most,” said Loechel. “The overwhelming response was that Sailors wanted their own rooms, even if it meant less living space; the surveys showed that Sailors wanted privacy.”
The existing structure of the buildings was a big factor in the design of the new quarters. The weight-bearing support pillars dictated, to a certain extent, the way the new rooms were designed.
“We didn’t want to have pillars in the middle of rooms, so the designers planned for the pillars to be built into corners or closets,” said Loechel.
When the last of 10 buildings is finished, the cost of the renovations will have totaled $15 million, bringing the old barracks into conformity with current Department of Defense standards that dictate one person to a room occupancy with a bathroom shared between two rooms.
With the upgrades, most rooms also have kitchen and laundry facilities shared between two rooms. The exception is that some of the rooms for E-6s are larger, but without cooking and laundry facilities, although there are cooking and laundry facilities for use of all residents in each building. Standards for each room are phone and cable TV jacks, and each resident has control over their climate with individual air conditioning and heating units.
Oddly enough, after the change from multi-person rooms to one-person rooms, the overall capacity of all the buildings has gone from 860 beds to 864 beds.
“The residents are happy with the rooms; from time to time we post memos on the doors asking for volunteers to move out into the economy, but we don’t get very many takers,” said Loechel.
“I really enjoy the convenience of sharing a kitchen and laundry room with only one person,” said Disbursing Clerk Seaman Matthew Mitchell.
Other housing innovations that have improved quality of life on the base include a check-in desk at the terminal and a short-term transient facility for personnel who are laid over on their way to the war.
Rota was the first Navy base in the European theater to place a check-in desk at the terminal. The terminal desk can take care of about 96 percent of single housing needs, reducing the time it takes to get a sleepy, disoriented member just off a flight settled into a room.
The transient facility, which used to be a laundry facility, was quickly outfitted at the beginning of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. The facility is strictly for contingencies of troops who, during transport, are stuck in Rota for one reason or another. The facility is mainly open-bay, it features a couple of officer rooms, but it is much better alternative than spending the in the terminal or on the flight line. The facility also has a lounge with 10 telephones and 10 computers, with Internet access for the troops’ convenience.
For more information on Naval Station Rota, visit their Web site at www.rota.navy.mil.
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