A joint venture between Kier Group and Royal BAM Group nv will now refurbish Devonport’s 10 Dock, the first part of a £2bn overhaul of facilities at the UK’s largest dockyard.

Babcock International Group Plc, which operates the yard, appointed Kier BAM Joint Venture (KBJV) after previously announcing a series of major infrastructure projects at Devonport.

During the next 10 years new facilities will be developed at the site to meet the evolving requirements of the Royal Navy.

The project includes the redevelopment of a dry dock for nuclear submarines alongside the demolition of existing buildings and construction of new ones to support the Royal Navy’s submarine maintenance programme. The scope includes all mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control and automation technology in the new dock building, a new dividing headwall within the dock, ground anchors, and new service subways to support submarines in their dry dock positions.

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A bold new vision for an under-threat docks which would create more than 1,000 jobs has been unveiled.

Plans to retain Chatham Docks as a working site are an alternative to multi-million pound proposals for thousands of homes.

Landowners Peel L&P want to build 3,625 properties over the coming decades and are currently consulting on its own plans, which include a number of potential commercial developments.

An event showcasing a masterplan for keeping the docks open was hosted by Kelly Tolhurst in Westminster The preliminary plans centre around how the docks could be developed in order to retain the 800 jobs on the site, as well as add another 1,635 manufacturing positions.

Peel L&P previously said it believes there are between 350 and 370 jobs on site. It also says the leases for most of the businesses are due to run out in 2025, which is when it wants to shut down.

The company wants to close the docks because it says £30 million is needed to replace its lock gates, which is not financially viable.

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Scottish National Party (SNP) candidates have been accused of failing to back up apparent unanimous support for Inchgreen Dry Dock with an actual election commitment.

Candidates told campaigners they wanted the mothballed dock transformed into a ‘marine engineering and shipbuilding hub’ — but didn’t mention Inchgreen at all in their manifesto.

In a joint statement, issued to the Campaign to Save Inchgreen Dry Dock, the SNP hopefuls echoed a desire by the pressure group to see the UK’s largest mainland dry dock returned to public ownership.

But with no mention of the issue in a glossy 15-page manifesto, the candidates have now had their integrity called into question.

Peel Ports Group last November controversially leased the dry dock to fledgling ship scrappage outfit Atlas Decommissioning, a company which has failed to win a single order in nearly six months.

After boasting of creating a ‘centre of excellence’ which would create 100 skilled jobs, Atlas has been forced to lay off its start-up workforce of 18 with no sign of any work coming to the dock.

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