HMNB Devonport Major Infrastructure Programme (MIP) – 9 Dock Upgrade

Purpose

HMNB Devonport in Plymouth is the largest naval base in Western Europe and has been supporting the Royal Navy since 1691. The vast site covers more than 650 acres and has 15 dry docks, four miles of waterfront, 25 tidal berths and five basins. Over the next 10 years, Babcock is delivering a series of major infrastructure projects to redevelop the aging base infrastructure.

The purpose of the programme is to deliver the extensive upgrades required to create state of-the-art facilities capable of meeting the evolving requirements of the UK’s Royal Navy.

What we are doing

We have established an expert delivery team at Devonport to support Babcock and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, with projects associated with the Major Infrastructure Programme (MIP).

We have provided Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) support on two of the largest projects associated with the MIP, namely the 9 Dock upgrade project and repurposing of 10 Dock. We provided constructability and resourcing advice for both, which are undergoing extensive refurbishment to enable the dockyard to continue to meet commitments to the UK nuclear submarine programme.

We supported Babcock with the preparation of an ECI report relating to the redevelopment of 10 dock, including the demolition and construction of buildings. The ECI considered achievability of a programme to deliver the upgraded facility by 2025 and constructability of the pre-concept design. We also provided added value and learning from experience (LfE), that allowed Babcock to reduce risk, increase cost estimating and programme maturity, improve safety during construction or operation and identify efficiencies in quality, time, cost and performance.

We delivered ECI support on a project to restore 9 Dock, so future submarine maintenance works can be completed with defined outage periods. 9 Dock is a large dry dock, which forms part of the submarine maintenance facilities at Devonport. As part of the civils and structures work package, we provided expertise on the construction and upgrade of the dock itself as well as equipment, facilities and buildings.

Our 9 Dock team transitioned from the ECI to the construction stage in 2022. The works we are delivering on-site involve large-scale concrete construction techniques and include repairing and maintaining the ship caisson, constructing bottom dock edge protection, conducting a pile access survey and boat mechanical and engineering service upgrades. 

Project successes

Throughout the ECI phase, we developed detailed logistic and phasing plans and our security cleared construction team are now progressing construction works, with minimum impact on base operations.

Our work at Devonport contributes to a grand vision to create a facility, capable of refitting the newest submarines, such as the Dreadnought-class ballistic missile submarines that will arrive in service in the 2030s.