Team Resolute awarded £1.6bn to deliver Royal Navy support ships

Work on the Fleet Solid Support ships contract is predicted to create 1,200 UK shipyard jobs, hundreds of graduate and apprentice opportunities, and an expected 800 further jobs across the UK supply chain.

For its part, Harland & Wolff in Belfast is investing around £100m into UK shipyards, including £77m of infrastructure at the company’s Belfast and Appledore shipyards, and a further £21m in skills and technology transfer from Navantia UK.

With around 900 jobs alone to be created at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast site, the contract is a boost for Northern Ireland, which sees naval shipbuilding brought back to Belfast.

The majority of the blocks and modules for the ships will be constructed at Harland & Wolff’s facilities in Belfast and Appledore, following the entirely British crafted design by the Bath-based company BMT. Build work will also take place at Navantia’s shipyard in Cadiz in Spain, with the final assembly for all three 216m long vessels to be completed at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast yard.

In a statement, John Wood, group CEO of Harland & Wolff, said: “This programme will bring £77m of investment into the Harland & Wolff shipyards and create around 1,200 Harland & Wolff shipyard jobs, spring boarding Harland & Wolff back into the naval shipbuilding sphere and significantly enhancing our export opportunities for the future.

“This is the last chance to capture the excellent shipbuilding skills that remain in Belfast and Appledore before they are lost and pass them on to the next generation of UK shipbuilders. UK government has seized this opportunity and in doing so ensured the long-term survival of our shipyards and significantly bolstered sovereign shipbuilding capability.”

Delivering on ambitions to bolster UK shipbuilding as laid out in the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh, the contract aims to deliver significant capital investment in the UK while providing ships vital to the Carrier-led Maritime Strike Group.

Production is due to start in 2025, with recapitalisation and yard improvements starting immediately. All three support ships are expected to be operational by 2032.