Faslane dry docks and research ship to be built in UK, says chancellor

The UK government has confirmed a major programme of investment in naval infrastructure designed to maintain and support the Royal Navy’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. Chancellor John Healey announced that contracts worth £6 billion will be awarded to British shipbuilders to construct three floating dry docks at the Faslane naval base on the Firth of Clyde. These facilities are considered essential for national security and will play a key role in revitalizing domestic shipbuilding during what Healey described as a “new age of industrialisation.”

A competitive, UK-only tender process has been launched to determine the shipyard responsible for building the floating dry docks. Navantia UK—a company with facilities in Fife and Belfast—is currently seen as a leading candidate. Alongside the dry dock contracts, Healey pledged an additional £115 million to build a new marine research vessel to replace the Cefas Endeavour. This ship, operated by the Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), was originally constructed by the Ferguson shipyard on the Clyde more than two decades ago.

The planned upgrades to Faslane form part of a broader £15 billion investment programme aimed at enhancing the naval base over the next ten years. Faslane, positioned on the eastern shore of Gare Loch, currently relies on a single shiplift—a large elevator system used to lift submarines out of the water inside a maintenance hall. The introduction of floating dry docks represents a significant increase in capacity. Unlike fixed, land-based docks, these floating structures can be submerged to allow vessels inside and then raised and drained for repairs and inspection. Their mobility permits relocation if necessary, a flexibility that has not been available at Faslane since the Admiralty Dock 60 was sold off in the late 1990s.

Navantia UK, the local arm of the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder, has been advocating strongly for the contract. The company owns the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast as well as fabrication sites in Arnish (Isle of Lewis), Methil (Fife), and Appledore (Devon). The GMB union has requested that the workload be shared between the Methil and Belfast locations. Other potential bidders include Cammell Laird in Merseyside, now under Balaena’s ownership, and Babcock, whose operations include a facility at Rosyth. Besides the dry dock projects, John Healey also highlighted plans for Rolls-Royce to inject £300 million more into its UK factories located in Derby, Bristol, Glasgow, and Rotherham

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