Balaena welcomes £6bn Government shipbuilding investment

Speaking at the Labour Party conference, Mr Healey announced a £6bn investment in shipbuilding across the UK, the re-establishment of the Union Learning Fund, which promotes learning at work, plus a new £100m fund for apprenticeships.

The Chancellor has confirmed that three new floating docks for the Royal Navy’s submarine service at HM Naval Base Clyde will be delivered through a UK-only competition, alongside further investment in British maritime capability.

The Government has made clear that defence spending should strengthen the UK’s sovereign industrial base, create skilled British jobs and apprenticeships, and ensure strategically important capability is retained within Britain.

Balaena, one of the UK’s largest shipbuilding, ship repair and maritime engineering groups, said the announcement sends an important signal to an industry that is ready to deliver.

With more than 2,000 skilled people across five strategic locations in Birkenhead, Falmouth, Tyne, Padstow and Gibraltar, 12 dry docks and significant shipbuilding, fabrication, repair and refit capacity, Balaena already has the infrastructure and workforce required to support a substantial increase in UK naval activity.

Its yards are currently supporting major defence programmes, including the Type 26 Global Combat Ship programme, alongside the repair, maintenance and refit of Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels.

Balaena is also investing heavily in the next generation of British maritime skills, with 171 apprentices currently training across the Group and a long-established record of developing welders, fabricators, engineers, naval architects, electricians and other specialist maritime trades.

Simon Gillett, Group CEO of Balaena, said: “Today’s announcement is exactly the direction British industry has been calling for.

“If we are serious about rebuilding Britain’s industrial strength and strengthening our national security, then we must make full use of the shipyards, people and skills that already exist in this country.

“Balaena stands ready today.

“Across our Group we have more than 2,000 highly skilled people, major shipbuilding and ship repair facilities, 12 dry docks and a new generation of apprentices coming through our yards. We have the capability, capacity and experience to build, maintain, repair and refit the vessels Britain needs.

“We strongly welcome the Government’s commitment to backing British shipyards and buying British wherever our industry can deliver. Defence investment should not simply buy equipment; it should create skilled jobs, sustain communities, strengthen supply chains and leave Britain with greater sovereign industrial capability.

“This is an opportunity to rebuild a maritime industrial base that can serve Britain for generations, and Balaena intends to play a major part in delivering it.”

Chancellor John Healey speaking during the Labour Party conference at the ACC Liverpool. (Image: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA)

Balaena’s shipyards bring together some of the most significant names and facilities in British maritime engineering, with a shipbuilding heritage stretching back more than 200 years.

Today, the Group provides full lifecycle maritime capability spanning naval architecture and design, new build and modular construction, complex fabrication, ship repair and refit, engineering, maintenance and through-life support.

Balaena believes sustained investment in British shipbuilding can provide benefits far beyond individual defence programmes – creating long-term skilled employment, strengthening regional economies and supply chains, expanding apprenticeships and ensuring the UK retains the sovereign capability to build, repair and maintain its own naval fleet.

Simon Gillett added: “A new age of industrialisation requires more than ambition. It requires yards, docks, engineers, welders, fabricators and apprentices. Britain has those capabilities today. The task now is to put them to work.”