A Super Mess may sound like the kind of situation to be avoided – but thousands of sailors in Scotland are looking forward to living in it, and are already contributing to it.

This Super Mess – the first in the Royal Navy – is part of the £125 million Neptune Regeneration Project, which will see the mess and almost 1,800 new en suite rooms replacing facilities which were built in the 1960s.

The mess is super in within the single complex, it will provide a single galley to prepare food for all ranks and rates, while maintaining dedicated dining areas for officers, senior and junior ratings.

The new improved facilities will also include a shopping mall, bowling alley and bar, coffee/snack bar, theatre/cinema, nightclub and all-day restaurant – all this with arguably the best views of any Royal Navy mess, out across the Gare Loch to the mountains of Argyll.

The project will provide all ratings and officers with single, en-suite cabins, with the junior ratings’ accommodation arranged in ‘flats’ of eight rooms based around a common room and kitchen area.

The same arrangement for officers and senior ratings will be grouped in sixes.

A total of 1,774 Grade 1 en-suite rooms will be built in blocks which will vary from three to six storeys high, designed with three wings and a central area containing bathrooms, lift, staircase and storage rooms.

All cabins will have a double bed, plenty of electrical sockets with TV, satellite, radio and telephone points, fully-tiled en suite bathrooms and a mix of movable and fitted furniture. There will also be a large walk-in storage area.

Two mock-up cabins were opened at Neptune for feedback, and the (anonymous) comments were incorporated into the final planning process. Work is due to start next April.

Amec-Turner has been awarded the contract at Neptune, which should be completed by 2008, providing attractive domestic and social facilities for single sailors at the Scottish base when they are not at sea.

Single Living Accommodation (SLA) is seen as a vital plank in the Navy’s bid to retain personnel – a problem reflected across the other two Services as well – and the Ministry of Defence will be investing £1 billion in projects across the RN, Army and RAF.

Staff Officer Projects (Neptune) Cdr Bill Burgess said feedback was vital to ensure the accommodation meets future needs and expectations.

“This Quality of Life project will ensure that a sailor’s life ashore is better balanced,” said Cdr Burgess.

“Life at sea in the Royal Navy continuously defending the UK’s interest worldwide is demanding, particularly within the tight constraints of a submarine.

“It is essential that sailors have somewhere away from their workplace which they can call home, with recreational facilities which they enjoy using and which helps them unwind and relax during their time ashore.”

Capt Simon Ancona, the officer responsible for the Fleet’s Rebalancing Lives initiative, said: “This is excellent news.

“So often it seems that promised improvements are ‘jam tomorrow’. This project, and its massive benefits to the Serviceman and women, is just around the corner and proves the Navy’s commitment to making life better.”

Meanwhile, work on new accommodation at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth is well under way – and the new blocks have been given names.

The first block is already erected, and work on Block 2 is proceeding. Block 1 is to be Sirius Block, followed by Phoebe, Naiad and Euryalus.