Prime minister Tony Blair has welcomed additional funding that will see improvements made to accommodation at RNAS Culdrose at Helston.

His words follow an announcement by the Ministry of Defence that an additional 400 rooms are to be built at Culdrose as part of a nationwide contract worth at least £335 million.

Two projects at Culdrose will see 160 new rooms for senior non-commissioned officers and another 240 rooms for junior ranks. Both projects will replace existing, poor quality accommodation.

The improvements are part of a national project by the MoD to provide 3,800 single rooms for servicemen and women.

Mr Blair said: "I am delighted by this announcement to provide new accommodation for 3,800 single servicemen and women. Our servicemen and women deserve the best accommodation we can provide, and we are committed to providing this.

"They perform the most critical, difficult and dangerous role for the country and their professionalism and dedication are admired throughout the world.

"Their conditions of service should reflect this extraordinary contribution. That includes high quality accommodation for them and their families, whether at home or abroad."

The work will be carried out over a five-year period, beginning in January 2008, with occupants expected to move in from early 2009.

The rooms will be the second phase of the MoD's five-year single living accommodation modernisation project - known as Project SLAM - that will see existing accommodation renovated, as well as new rooms built.