The historic shipyard of Harland & Wolff recently announced that work has begun to improve the existing fabrication halls at its Belfast facility, home to one of the largest deep-water dockyards in Europe.

The upgrades according to Harland & Wolff Group, will enable the highest quality work to be efficiently carried out during Team Resolute’s Fleet Solid Support (FSS) contract with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) as Afloat previously reported. This involves the assembly of three replenishment vessels (following initial construction in Spain) to serve the Royal Navy.

During a recent visit to the shipyard at Queen’s Island, the Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, saw the beginning of the civil works and met apprentices set to work on the new contracts. She welcomed the developments as “brilliant news for the whole of the UK”.

As part of the FSS contract, awarded in January 2023 alongside partners in the Team Resolute consortium (comprising Navantia UK, Harland & Wolff and BMT), Harland & Wolf’s Belfast yard will build three 40,000-tonne vessels which will supply the Royal Navy fleet, and many NATO navies at sea, helping strengthen and safeguard the UK’s national security and maritime defence capability.

Winning the FSS contract unlocked £77m of investment in the company in preparation for constructing the three ships.

The upgrade of the Belfast shipyard – to adopt state-of-the-art shipbuilding techniques – will underpin Harland & Wolff’s capacity to deliver key naval programmes of FSS and beyond. Over the course of the FSS contract, at its peak, Harland & Wolff is expected to employ 1,200 personnel across its Belfast and Appledore shipyards, with an expected additional 800+ across the UK supply chain.

Improvements to Harland & Wolff’s Belfast site are being undertaken by Cleary Contracting, a local building company established in 1983, whom have been awarded a multi-million contract to deliver the infrastructure upgrades over the next 18 months, further supporting communities in Belfast and across Northern Ireland. The company expects to create at least 50 new jobs.

In addition to cutting edge automation and robotic machinery capabilities, the improvements include a 5,000m2 extension to the existing fabrication halls and will facilitate up to 16m2 of automated fabrication panels.

As part of Team Resolute, Harland & Wolff’s continued investment in its Belfast shipyard will secure long-term work for the local community. This investment has enabled Harland & Wolff to commence recruitment of new staff in many roles in all departments and upskilling present colleagues in their existing roles.