Princess Royal opens new BAE shipbuilding academy in Glasgow

The Princess Royal has officially opened BAE Systems’ £12 million Applied Shipbuilding Academy in Glasgow, a flagship training centre designed to prepare thousands of workers for careers building some of the Royal Navy’s most advanced warships.

Located at the company’s Scotstoun shipyard, the new facility is central to BAE’s long-term strategy to modernise its Clyde operations and support the delivery of eight cutting-edge Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy.

Measuring 5,500 square metres, the academy includes a multipurpose learning hub with over 30 teaching zones, a science and engineering innovation space, and a high-spec trade hall featuring mock-up ship compartments for hands-on training.

Nearly 300 apprentices and graduates have already passed through the academy since it opened in September 2024. Since December, another 60 craft apprentices have begun or completed immersive eight-week courses in welding, fabrication, electrical systems, and more. A further 30 are set to start before the summer.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, BAE Systems’ Managing Director of Naval Ships, Simon Lister, said: “It’s a tremendous honour to welcome Her Royal Highness to our Applied Shipbuilding Academy to meet with some of our colleagues and see first-hand how we’re developing the next generation of shipbuilders.”

“The Academy is an exceptional facility, which will help provide innovative career-long learning and skills development activities for more than 4,500 employees,” he added. “This will help ensure we have a pipeline of talent available to deliver the best possible equipment to the Royal Navy and our allies around the world as they operate in an increasingly challenging and complex environment.”

The academy is one part of a broader £300 million investment across BAE Systems’ two Glasgow shipyards at Scotstoun and Govan. That includes the near-completed Janet Harvey Hall, a digitally enabled manufacturing facility in Govan designed to accelerate and streamline the production of Type 26 frigates.

Together, the projects represent a major commitment to sustaining shipbuilding expertise in Scotland, delivering modern naval capability for the UK, and supporting international partners such as Australia and Canada—who are also procuring Type 26 variants for their fleets.