Babcock helps drive Plymouth’s growth ambitions
Above: The lantern room of the redundant Smeaton Lighthouse offers elevated views of Plymouth Sound and the city of Plymouth.
Courtesy Babcock
Babcock contributes in excess of £1 billion to the South West’s economy, sustaining over 19,000 jobs directly and through a local supply chain of over 300 companies.
This new initiative with Plymouth City Council builds on the existing strong partnership and will help drive growth in the region for decades to come.
The company is kick-starting this programme by investing time, resource and expertise to work with its public sector partners including providing dedicated specialist resource to the City Council in support of the City’s Economic Strategy.
This collaboration builds on the recent announcement of Growth Alliance Plymouth (GAP) which has Babcock as a founding member alongside partners Plymouth City Council and the Royal Navy. Through GAP, the partners will deliver a framework for action that will unlock economic, educational and employment opportunities for the region. Babcock’s ambitious plans for the region include the Babcock Skills Academy, launched last year in partnership with City College Plymouth and Plymouth University. This will ensure that the region is ready to deliver the critical capabilities that support our armed forces, both now and in the future.
Babcock employ more than 7,000 people in Plymouth delivering critical defence programmes including complex submarine maintenance and the build of armoured vehicles. As a result of the 70+ year programme of submarine support, Babcock is delivering in excess of £1.5 billion of major infrastructure projects in partnership with the MoD’s Submarine Delivery Agency and ensuring that Devonport has sovereign, state of the art facilities to support the Royal Navy.
Babcock CEO, David Lockwood said: “We are an intrinsic part of the fabric of Plymouth, creating jobs and delivering programmes that defend our nation and support our international allies. The economic, educational and cultural health of the region is hugely important to Babcock and we are pleased to continue to play our part.”
Plymouth City Council Leader Tudor Evans said: “The naval base and dockyard have been part of Plymouth’s economic lifeblood for centuries and this is still as much the case as it ever has been with Babcock’s ambitious growth plans for Devonport.
“It is imperative that we work as one in Plymouth and with the Government to get the right infrastructure in place to support growth on this scale in the city and ensure the city’s economy and residents’ benefit.
“We are very pleased that Babcock is committing these additional resources and support.”
Tracey Lee, Chief Executive at Plymouth City Council, said: “Babcock is a key part of the Growth Alliance Plymouth programme and is committed to a partnership approach in delivering this ambitious agenda for the dockyard and the city.
“Their support and capability will also help us scale our proposition to central government for protecting our nation and driving growth and it is confirmation of their ongoing commitment to the dockyard and to Plymouth.”
Babcock owns and operates the Devonport Royal Dockyard facility which spans 330 acres and is co-located with HMNB Devonport, the largest naval base in Western Europe. This facility is the largest UK owned nuclear services provider spanning both civil and defence nuclear. Its operational focus countries are the UK, Australasia, Canada, France and South Africa, with exports to additional markets. Almost half of Babcock’s total UK workforce is in the South West of England, by far the greatest concentration of Babcock workers are in Devonport.
