New Belfast shipbuilding hall crowns year of record-breaking defence investment in Northern Ireland industry, supporting 900 jobs and apprenticeships in Belfast
Belfast welders, fabricators, and crane operators are set to benefit from a record-breaking year of defence investment in Northern Ireland, as Navantia UK opened the new Resurgent Hall at the iconic Harland & Wolff site in Belfast today.
The opening marks a major milestone in the construction of three new support ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), cementing Belfast’s role at the heart of the UK’s shipbuilding renewal.
During the site opening today, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard officially opened the fabrication hall, the new centrepiece of Navantia UK’s £157 million investment programme across its four UK shipyards. Around £100 million is being invested in Belfast alone.
Supporting over 900 skilled jobs and apprenticeships, the newly extended hall adds 5,000 square metres of fabrication space, fitted with new cranes, robotic plasma-cutting technology and a new mechanised panel line. Navantia UK’s Harland and Wolff site will now be able to deliver the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) programme.