Included in the new 300-bed barracks complex are classrooms, workrooms and storage areas designed with the specific needs of the EDF's Guard Battalion in mind, according to an ECDI press release. Also included are modern football pitches, obstacle courses, hand-to-hand combat facilities as well as expanded parking.

The new barracks are also Estonia's first to comply with nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) regulations.

"It is important for us to create modern living spaces and classrooms for conscripts, which will further support and boost their will and readiness to defend," Minister of Defense Kalle Laanet (Reform) said. "In the current security situation, it is important that our young people complete conscription, and on a base with updated infrastructure, everyone is ensured good training opportunities and the best conditions for carrying out national defense tasks."

Also still under construction at the base are a multiarena that can be used to play sports, a warehouse and a pedestrian tunnel that will connect the two halves of the 28-hectare base where it is bisected by Tallinn-Paldiski Highway.

Over the past year, the Paldiski base has been undergoing significant changes, with old infrastructure being demolished or overhauled and new buildings and facilities being built. Among the buildings to be demolished were an old barracks and a medical building that were the first buildings people traveling into Paldiski would see.

Next year's biggest planned project on base is a new dining facility, which is likewise to be built by the ECDI.

The changes are tied directly to the EDF's strategic unit relocation plan, under which units of the Support Command as well as the Guard Battalion have been relocated to Paldiski as well.

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