Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has been selected by Rolls-Royce as the sole contractor on its fissile construction framework - a key milestone in the expansion of its Raynesway site in Derby.

In June 2023, Rolls-Royce said it was planning to double the size of its submarines site in Derby to meet the growth in demand from the Royal Navy. This is also a key enabler in the company’s commitment to provide all the reactors that will power the future attack submarines as part of the Australia, UK, US trilateral agreement, known as AUKUS.

This increase in demand will see new manufacturing and office facilities being built and will create 1,170 skilled roles across a range of disciplines, including manufacturing and engineering.

As the work will take place within the nuclear licensed site at Raynesway, the construction of fissile facilities adds a level of complexity and rigour above and beyond that of traditional builds.

Balfour Beatty was announced as non-fissile construction partners last year. Rolls Royce said this new appointment now brings “consistency across the construction of the whole Raynesway expansion work”.

Having previously announced the fissile design partners as PROPEL, a joint venture between AtkinsRéalis and Mott MacDonald, this next milestone will see Balfour Beatty work with the partners to bring the design of these new nuclear manufacturing facilities to life.

This also marks an important milestone for the expansion programme, with the full collective of partners selected across both our fissile and non-fissile programmes. Leading multi-disciplinary professional services consultancy WSP was announced as the non-fissile design partner in March last year.

Rolls-Royce Submarines infrastructure director, Terry Meighan, said: “The expansion work we have planned is of critical national importance as it enables us to safely increase our speed of manufacture, helping to deliver Dreadnought and the new SSN-AUKUS attack submarines at a much faster rate.

“The experience, pedigree and strong commitment to safety displayed by Balfour Beatty during the tender process means we now have a full complement of design and construction partners across the fissile and non-fissile expansion work. Working together they will deliver this extensive and critically important programme. This is an important milestone for us and we are confident we have selected partners with safety, collaboration and delivery excellence at their core.”

Nick Crossfield, Balfour Beatty Group sector lead, UK defence, added: “Our appointment to this critical programme is a powerful endorsement of Balfour Beatty’s specialist expertise and proven ability to deliver complex infrastructure within one of the UK’s most secure and regulated environments.

“It further cements our leading role in supporting the UK’s long-term defence capability and is a clear testament to the momentum we’re building across our growth markets.”

Rolls-Royce Submarines currently employs more than 5,000 people and designs, manufactures and provides in-service support to the pressurised water reactors that power every boat in the Royal Navy’s submarine fleet.

It is currently supporting the existing Astute and Dreadnought boat build programmes through the delivery of reactor plant and associated components.

It also provides frontline support across the world for reactor plant equipment from its Operations Centre in Derby and supports the submarines when in the Barrow-in-Furness shipyard and the naval bases at Devonport and Faslane. In addition, there are technical specialists working in Glasgow, Cardiff, and Thurso.