Faslane set to become ‘Scotland’s biggest building site’

Faslane will likely be Scotland’s biggest building site over the next decade as £15.1 billion is invested in preparing the home of the UK’s nuclear deterrent for the Dreadnought and SSN-AUKUS submarines, Defence Minister Luke Pollard has said, with the work complicated by the fact that much of it must be delivered by UK nationals only owing to the sensitivity of nuclear infrastructure.

Speaking about Project Royal Oak today, the £26 billion ten-year programme to upgrade the Royal Navy’s three main bases, Pollard was asked by the UK Defence Journal what the main thrust of the Faslane investment was. “We are expecting Faslane to have more submarines active there than has been for a very long time,” he said.

“With the final Astute boats coming online in due course, that will mean we have a sizeable fleet of Astutes and Vanguards. And with Dreadnought coming online, and ultimately then SSN-AUKUS, we’ll need new facilities there.”

The Minister confirmed the ship lift at the base, which has “served us really well for a very long time,” needs replacing, work falling under Project Euston, the programme building new submarine support facilities on the Clyde including floating docks and shoreside infrastructure. That renewal must happen while Faslane continues as the Submarine Service’s operating base and, notably, while the base takes on more refit work. “We’re seeing more refit work taking place in Faslane that perhaps in the past might have been done in Devonport,” Pollard said, stressing this “doesn’t in any way remove the importance of Devonport for deep maintenance for submarines, but reflects the requirement of the fleet that we have to be upgraded.”

He described the combined task as an enormous challenge, spanning the continuation of the Vanguard programme and the continuous at-sea deterrent, upgraded maintenance facilities, the arrival of more Astute boats, and preparation for Dreadnought and SSN-AUKUS. “That is a huge challenge that makes Faslane probably Scotland’s biggest building site over the next decade, and that is even more important because much of that work will need to be done by UK eyes only due to the sensitivity of nuclear infrastructure,” he told the UK Defence Journal.

The MoD describes HMNB Clyde, home of the UK’s nuclear deterrent and the Royal Navy’s submarine centre of specialisation, as set to benefit from one of the most significant and sustained programmes of UK Government investment in Scotland in the coming decades, with economic benefits flowing across the West of Scotland through industrial partners based in the region. Faslane is Scotland’s largest military establishment and its second-biggest employment site, with over 6,500 military and civilian personnel, and Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said the funding will transform it “into a modern, more efficient base, future-proofed for war-fighting,” as quoted in the previously released announcement.

Pollard said facilities across all three naval bases are reaching the end of their lives and cannot be extended, despite what he called real efforts by the Navy and private contractors to keep them going. Under Royal Oak, described by the MoD as the largest programme of naval infrastructure investment since the end of the Cold War, Clyde receives £15.1 billion, Devonport £7.1 billion and Portsmouth £3.9 billion, funding modernised waterfront infrastructure, new Single Living Accommodation, training facilities, out-of-water engineering infrastructure and research and development capability. Further detail on individual projects is expected through the summer and autumn.