Babcock has awarded Kier BAM Joint Venture (KierBAM) a contract worth around £600 million ($805 million) to build the water-retaining boundary and associated infrastructure for the redevelopment of 10 Dock at Devonport in Plymouth, UK.
The award is funded by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and was announced on November 2. It moves the project into main construction. Enabling works have been completed, with an on-site concrete batching plant commissioned as part of that work.
The rebuilt dock will support deep maintenance of Royal Navy submarines on behalf of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE).
Babcock has said the completed programme will provide a new dock and berth, together with facilities for logistics and production support, which it describes as critical for Astute-class deep maintenance periods and future submarine capability.
KierBAM is a joint venture of Kier and BAM Nuttall. It was appointed in July 2022 under an NEC4 framework contract for the 10 Dock main civils works, and the framework allows for multiple call-off contracts.
The scope comprises demolishing existing buildings and constructing replacements, together with a new dividing headwall, ground anchors and service subways for submarines in dry-dock positions.
Babcock began demolishing existing infrastructure around 10 Dock in May 2022.
The dock forms part of Project Royal Oak, a £7.1 billion investment in HMNB Devonport and Devonport Dockyard over the next decade. The project also covers further upgrades to 15 Dock and the recommissioning of 14 Dock to resume defuelling of legacy submarines.
In September, the MOD said work on 15 Dock had enabled the first successful docking of an Astute-class submarine at Devonport. It added that it was exploring opportunities to accelerate work on 10 and 14 Docks.