Rolls-Royce has announced that infrastructure group Balfour Beatty will be its non-fissile construction partner to help deliver the expansion of its Raynesway site in Derby, according to a press release.
In June of last year, Rolls-Royce revealed plans to double the size of its Submarines site in Derby to meet growing demand from the Royal Navy and in response to the AUKUS agreement.
This expansion is part of a broader strategy to support the UK’s SSN-AUKUS programme, with Australia committing £2.4 billion over ten years to the initiative. This funding will support the enhancement of Rolls-Royce Submarines infrastructure and contribute to costs associated with boat design.
The expansion will involve the construction of new manufacturing and office facilities, creating 1,170 skilled roles in various disciplines, including manufacturing and engineering. Balfour Beatty will oversee the construction of these new facilities and the adjoining site infrastructure.
“We cannot deliver against our commitments to the MOD and the AUKUS programme on our own. It will require a strong and reliable supply chain bringing their expertise to enhance and enable the critical work we do. The selection of Balfour Beatty as our expansion construction partner is a prime example of that,” said Terry Meighan, Rolls-Royce Submarines Infrastructure Director.
“Their experience in delivering major infrastructure, as well as their long history of complex project delivery in secure environments, were important factors in our decision. This is an exciting milestone as we grow our site and our business to meet the enhanced demand for our expertise.”
Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty’s Group Chief Executive, added, “Today’s announcement marks an important step forward in ensuring Rolls-Royce has the infrastructure in place to support the strategic requirements of the MOD and the AUKUS programmes. I’m delighted Balfour Beatty has been chosen to support this critical work for a project that will see us unite our unique multi-disciplinary expertise and experience in delivering large scale complex projects within live, operational nuclear environments.”
Never heard of her
ABCRodney is uniquely qualified to comment on this article. Any thoughts, sir?
As an ex-submariner it doesn’t take an expert to write on constructing a construction site for constructing SSN’s. Basically it’s a shipyard, a specialised shipyard, but it’s still a shipyard.
Dead right.
Thanks mate
I wouldn’t comment about a construction site, but one that builds nuclear reactors and the producing the Fuel pellets isn’t anything like a ship yard.
It’s an odd beast, it’s more like a cross between a high tech precision engineering facility, a Swiss watch maker and a Chemical Laboratory.
You say you are an ex submariner well in that case I hope RRs products worked OK for you as 2 generations of my family have been building them.
If you actually want to know the difference between a shipyard and RR I’ll tell you !
If a shipyard gets it wrong a ship (or boat) sinks, if the folks building a reactor or the fuel pellets get it wrong well it’s really not good.
FYI I live exactly 12 minutes walk from RR on Raynesway !
You are absolutely correct mate. My experience was the Cold War era and deisel electrics (Oberons) and I actually did some of my initial training on HMS Auriga a WW2 A Boat. I never qualified on nukes but knew of the safety standards employed (no luminous dial watches, discharge restrictions etc etc). So not much knowledge about the RR PWR3. No, I imagine stuffing up the fissile fuel pellets would have catastrophic effect? But I was just talking about the actual building of submarine pressure hulls, internal fit out and other watertight fittings. The problem like building any modern submarines is the workforce. Once a contract for a particular submarine class build expires large numbers of that workforce disperse as the refitting during their lifespan doesn’t require that level of manpower. Retraining submarine build skills into a workforce within a dockyard is a problem to this day and keeping that initial build workforce between contracts would be the same problem whether you are building nukes or conventional boats.
Have you ever been to Barrow and seen the sheer size of the Devonshire Dock Hall it’s bloody huge. As for the importance of the highly trained workforce it’s absolutely vital that there is 100% continuity in the build schedule.
FYI when the Vanguards were built the workforce at BAe Barrow was about 13,000, 2 years later it was just 3000. For 7 long years no subs were built, just the Bays and the knock on into the supply chain was horrendous.
Then when they finally ordered the Astutes the problems and costs to regenerate the industry were in the Billions and very challenging.
Some bright spark worked out that if the Government hadn’t gapped the build schedule we could have had at least 10 Astutes.
No mate, my experience was the Scottish yards for the Oberons ( the Australian ones). Blockhouse at Portsmouth, HMS Dolphin (submarine school) and Faslane a handful of times. That’s it in the UK. The rest of my time in boats pushing Oberons around SE Asia, NZ and Singapore numerous times, HK, (still a UK protectorate), Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnamese waters twice and Hawaii for RIMPAC. Too many weeks at sea over too few years and that’s why I got out and retrained in a completely different field to make absolutely sure I NEVER went to sea again, especially on a submarine.
It’s actually worth a visit and the Museum is wonderful. If your ever in the Lakes go have a gander. 😉
Will keep it mind next time I’m over in the UK….thanks.
Yep I just wonder how they kept a straight face, Balfour Beatty have been the go to contractor for work at Raynesway since it was 1st established in the 50/60’s.
They have the necessary clearances, a unique understanding of how the site works and a relationship of trust.
And as for it being news it really isn’t, as the place has been a building site for the last 2 Years and the piling was done before AUKUS was even officially announced.
To be fair a lot is made of the huge sums being poured into the UK Nuclear Naval Industry at present but a lot of it should have been spent decades ago.
If you want a laugh go into Google Earth, put in Derby England and then Raynesway.
As an American you will find RR right next to the Cricket Ground by the river (no one builds on the Alvaston CC ground). Then go onto street view find the main entrance and look further down the road. Yep Balfour Beatty local headquarters.
That way if they muck it up they glow as well 🥴
Rolls Royce and the MoD – with a solid track record of delivery.
Where the contractor gets paid for the delay.
https://www.nuclearinfo.org/blog/david-cullen/2020/07/reports-highlight-repeated-failures-mod-over-four-decades