Plans for a marine engineering centre of excellence at Inchgreen in Inverclyde have taken a step forward with a partnership agreement between the local council, the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and West College Scotland, Inverclyde Council stated.
A memorandum of understanding signed by the three parties commits them to developing a full business case for the centre, which would then be submitted to the UK Government. The proposed hub could draw on £20 million of UK Government funding announced in December 2025, subject to that case being developed and approved.
The intention is to build an innovation and training centre providing research capacity for businesses on the site while feeding trained people directly into skilled jobs there. Potential areas of focus include marine robotics, naval architecture, plating and welding, and the proposals will explore how the centre could support defence as well as net zero work.
Councillor Stephen McCabe, leader of Inverclyde Council, said: “This is an important step in the ongoing evolution of Inchgreen and the development of a new marine engineering centre of excellence. Inchgreen has huge potential and we’re delighted to be collaborating with NMIS and West College Scotland to help us to unlock that potential by creating an environment where people can be trained and then move into quality jobs all at the same location.”
Chris Courtney, chief executive of NMIS, said: “Working in partnership with Inverclyde Council, West College Scotland and industry, we have a brilliant opportunity to create a distinctive centre of excellence that builds on Inverclyde’s strengths and supports growth and high-quality jobs.
“Together, we can connect manufacturing and engineering innovation with education and skills, helping businesses strengthen and scale while creating opportunities for people to build rewarding careers and contribute to a bright industrial future for the region.”
Anne Campbell, principal of West College Scotland, said: “As an anchor institution within the region, West College Scotland is committed to responding to the needs of our communities, employers and key industries. Through this partnership, we will combine skills, innovation and industry expertise to create new opportunities for learners, support economic growth and help build the highly skilled workforce needed for the future of Scotland’s marine and engineering sectors.”
The involvement of the two institutions is intended to open routes for young people in the area from apprenticeships through to PhD level.
The Inchgreen site consists of a marine park and a dry dock, the latter among the largest in the United Kingdom and a facility that has drawn periodic interest as a location for ship repair and offshore renewables work. An £11 million upgrade of the marine park was completed in March 2025, funded by an £8.4 million Glasgow City Region City Deal grant alongside £1.36 million each from Inverclyde Council and the Scottish Government, the latter drawn from the Clyde Mission Fund for refurbishment of the Platers Shed. A second phase using £3 million of City Region funding was approved earlier this year, covering berthing and quay wall improvements and the purchase of the adjacent former St Mungo’s Church site.
NMIS is headquartered in Renfrewshire within the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland, is operated by the University of Strathclyde and forms part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
First Minister John Swinney also toured Inchgreen dock on 24 August during a series of engagements across Inverclyde, alongside visits to Ferguson Marine, CalMac and CMAL, saying the area has a proud heritage as an industrial powerhouse and strong foundations for growth, and that the Scottish Government is working with the council and local partners to attract investment and create jobs.
Martin McCluskey, the Labour MP for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West, attended the partnership announcement alongside Councillor McCabe and the two institution heads.
None of that sounds like it’s fully exploiting the dry dock, which is a very limited resource in Britain. Why waste it on marine robotics? We need infrastructure.
The redevelopment of the Inchgreen facility on the Clyde is an effort to restore heavy maritime infrastructure in Britain, centered around one of the largest dry docks in the country.
Following a £20 million funding allocation unlocked in late 2025, the project is moving forward with heavy engineering upgrades; including brand-new caisson gates and modernised dewatering pumps, designed to bring the long-dormant dry dock back to full commercial and defence-related capability by 2027.
Alongside this core industrial overhaul, the specialised training and research hub backed by West College Scotland and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland is being built directly on-site.
Rather than replacing the heavy infrastructure, this training element is intended to supply a skilled local workforce, covering everything from traditional heavy plating and welding to advanced maritime robotics and digital naval architecture, ensuring the yard has the talent ready to operate heavy assets for both the commercial sector and the Ministry of Defence.
I think Ferguson Marine have used the deep-water environment for vessel outfitting and transition phases … such as work on the MV Glen Rosa.
I would think a dry dock large enough to handle the QEs or any next gen carriers in Portsmouth or nearby would be a good idea rather than having to go all the way to Scotland every time there’s a dry dock need.
To convert Number 2 Basin or extend D-Lock at HMNB Portsmouth—projects estimated to cost up to £500 million, and that was in 2020. There’s an article by Navy Lookout called ‘Dry docking the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers – what are the options?’ from 2019. Good read.
Well no not really, in fact it’s exactly the opposite as the main operational area for the RN in a NATO / Russia war is the North Atlantic, High North and Arctic. So having a Drydock in Portsmouth is a very expensive nice to have and not a must have, also the largest concentration of ship yard workers for surface warships is on the Clyde (don’t forget the majority of the QE blocks were built and outfitted on the Clyde and then assembled at Rosyth.
Besides which every time a QE deploys they have to take on munitions and due to their size that’s carried out at Glenmallan on the Clyde.
TBH once H&W is back up and running the Belfast the Belfast Drydock comes into play and that ticks all the boxes so building another Drydock makes zero sense and if they really wanted a facility in the South then just refurb the KGV at Southampton.
And the Belfast Drydock will be too busy in the next couple of years building the FSS. They would have to buy land around the dock to incorporate a security boundary, which impacts commercial operations. And investment in the dock to build more facilities, repair the dock, install a new caisson gate, and keel blocks. It’s not impossible, just expensive.
Well the actual FSS build will be done in the build dock which is presently being refitted and the having the gantry cranes brought back into service. Last time I checked the Dry Dock is still fully functional and presently in use, it also has 3 cranes plus some facilities but as will be used for some of the lower hull fit out it will need some more. As for security Navantia will have to beef that up as part of bringing the yard back into full usage to build the RFAs anyway and no one wants a repeat of the Fort Victoria bombing.
Sorry, the latter part about security and land was about the George V drydock. My apologies.
No probs but even that is doable and it isn’t like there isn’t other business for dry docks.
And if Scotland go independent? All this money and investment put into Scotland instead of England. Just not learning the lessons of our sourcing our other defence supply chains. Either Scotland fully mergers with England and becomes England or we split up. As David Starkey says, Wales and England and NI are just bells added to England, either go all the way and become a single country or split up, the term UK is just a placeholder name.
Then we declare every area of national interest a sovereign base area, including areas absolutely vital to the Scottish economy to keep them under control, like the largest deep fried mars bar factories and the Irn-bru refinery and tanker terminal.
I suspect Scotland as an Independent country would have very a fast, sharp reality check ! Defence is a massive employer and its mainly located in the central belt which is the SNP Heartland.
Then there is the small issue of dealing with the Big Bad World without the massive subsidy of the Burnett Formula, a share of the National debt, an aging population and negative population growth. Combine that with hostility to Nuclear power, Fossil Fuels and increased welfare bills due to unemployment and you have a real mess.
It’s not just the RN that use the Clyde the USN dock their boats there as well, so banning them is a one way ticket to Trumps naughty step, so no NATO. membership and no way to rejoin the EU due to the fiscal rules.
As for relocating the shipbuilding it’s possible but would be very expensive to do, biggest issues are a lot of the former yards are either built on or very jammed for space and no trained workforce.
As for the latter well I’m A Scot but raised in England because my family emigrated down south because of work, Scots have been doing that for Centuries. Given the Tax hungry SNP tendencies and outright hostility of the SNP I suspect the Big Defence firms like BAe, Babcock, RR, Thales etc will just move out gradually and offer relocation to their workers.
It’s a long way off and I do think it will never happen, just like last time the reality will be spelled out during a referendum campaign.
“ Potential areas of focus include marine robotics, naval architecture, plating and welding, and the proposals will explore how the centre could support defence as well as net zero work.”
I do find all the focus on hull building rather odd as it is the *fitout* which is the biiiiiiiig skills issue.
I do t denigrate the hill building trades at all and we could do with more of them as well.
Hi SB Spot on as always, I’ve often wondered what % of the Blocks are pre outfitted for the T26 and T31 and then compare them to the T45 and QE’s it would be interesting to see if we have actually gone backwards.