- The company is looking to plug 'peace dividend' skills gap
- Dispute with MoD over Type 31 frigate contract settled
The hive of activity at the Devonport dockyard near Plymouth is a real illustration of the hike in defence spending following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Devonport, which has been in operation since early in the 18th century, is Europe's biggest naval dockyard. Yet the 'peace dividend' that accompanied the end of the Cold War meant successive governments cut investment in many of the UK's defence facilities, and now the nation is playing catch-up.
Babcock (BAB), which co-owns a large part of the base, was handed a £750mn contract in November to make infrastructure upgrades over the next four years that will equip the site to carry out deep maintenance work for current and future generations of UK submarines. At 10 Dock, for instance, an old Edwardian dock is currently being reconfigured to handle both Astute and Dreadnought class submarines.