Hundreds of jobs will be created after planners gave the green light for development of the new 10 Dock Facility at Devonport Dockyard.
The multi-million pound four year programme will see up to 600 construction workers on site and when completed will provide facilities for up to 630 workers – of which approximately 240 will be industrial jobs and the remainder office-based roles.
This represents a big increase in the current staffing levels in the existing N125 building and is estimated to create an estimated 230 full time equivalent jobs.
The new 10 Dock Facility will provide enhanced, modern infrastructure for maintenance of existing and new classes of Royal Navy submarines, supporting the Armed Forces and providing continued and new employment at the Dockyard across the wider supply chain.
The application site is centred around the existing 10 Dock within the North Yard part of the Dockyard and is equivalent in size to around four full sized football pitches.
10 Dock is a dry dock and has what is known as a Water Retaining Boundary (WRB). The dock is filled with water from the adjacent 5 Basin, then a vessel piloted in.
A structure known as a caisson is then fitted at the entrance to 10 Dock, at its north end, to complete the WRB.
The dock is then drained using pumps to make it a ‘dry’ dock, enabling vessels to be maintained in a dry environment. Once maintenance is complete, the dock can be re-filled with water, the caisson removed and the vessel piloted out.
The development of existing 10 Dock and surrounding dockside land will involve construction of a new caisson, docking cradle, heavy lift gantry crane and five telescopic cranes.
The work will also involve construction of two buildings providing workshops, storage, temporary accommodation, welfare, plants rooms and offices.
Extensive discussions between Babcock and their development team and Plymouth City Council led to a number of conditions regarding parking and transport issues during the construction work, which is due to start later this year.
The 10 Dock project is one of a series of major infrastructure projects at Devonport. Over the next 10 years Babcock will develop state of-the-art facilities to meet the evolving requirements of the UK’s Royal Navy.
Since 2020 the UK Ministry of Defence has awarded Babcock initial contracts worth around £140 million for infrastructure design and enabling works that will support the Astute class submarine, which is currently replacing the Trafalgar class SSN submarine. This is the first stage in an extensive development programme for Devonport that will see improvement projects span many years.
These major upgrades will enable deep maintenance work packages for the latest class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines. Dock upgrades to support the Astute operational programme will enable optimisation of maintenance on the platforms between HM Naval Base Clyde and Devonport dockyard.
Work has begun with the demolition of existing infrastructure including office blocks around the site’s 10 Dock facility. Over the last five years 10 Dock has seen the successful delivery of Landing Craft platform maintenance and a major overhaul period of an Albion Class Landing Platform Dock ship.
In parallel with the 10 Dock project, preparations are also underway for an extensive project for the adjacent 9 Dock. This project, managed by an integrated Bechtel and Cavendish Nuclear programme delivery team, will deliver maintenance, life extension and facility improvements to the dock for the Vanguard Class submarines.
