BAE Systems has signed a contract worth £67 million with contractor Morgan Sindall to extend its Devonshire Dock Hall.
The scheme will see new manufacturing and installation capabilities incorporated into the site for the Successor programme.
The Barrow-in-Furness facility will host the construction of Astute class submarines and is where Successor will be tested and integrated. Successor is the replacement for Vanguard class submarines.
The development comes as part of an investment programme that will include the construction of several new facilities as well as the refurbishment of existing buildings.
The Central Yard Facility will be 45 metres tall once complete and work has now begun on the site, with the first parts of the steel structure now being put in place.
Later in the year, a new 28,000m2 off site logistics facility is due to open.
Minister for Defence Procurement, Harriett Baldwin, said in a statement: This infrastructure investment at BAE Systems in Barrow will help ensure our new Successor submarines are built efficiently.
Baldwin added that the successor programme will benefit the whole nation and the latest investment is a further example of the government committing to the maintenance of the countryâs independent nuclear deterrent.
Meanwhile, Director of the Site Redevelopment Programme at BAE Systems Submarines, Allan Day, commented: We are in the third year of an eight-year redevelopment programme which is starting to see some dramatic changes across our site as we enhance our facilities and capabilities for the future.
Day added that the Devonshire Dock Hall is an iconic building which is home to the construction of some of the most advanced and capable submarines in the world.
He believes that this latest contract will make the facility even more equipped and will ensure that their workforce will be able to deliver submarine programmes to the Royal Navy in the future.
