The UK Government has confirmed that new floating docks for the Royal Navy’s submarine base at Faslane will be constructed by British shipyards.
Chancellor John Healey made the announcement as part of wider plans to support UK shipbuilding, stating that a UK-only competition will be held to deliver three floating docks for HM Naval Base Clyde.
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These docks, part of the previously announced Programme Euston, are intended to support maintenance of the country’s nuclear submarines and are now set to be exclusively built in the UK, according to the Treasury.
The floating docks will allow for critical inspections, repairs and upgrades to both current and future submarine classes, the government stated.
The MoD’s Defence Investment Plan, published in June, indicated that three docks and supporting infrastructure would be acquired for the Faslane base, as part of a broader £15bn ($19.8bn) upgrade programme for Royal Navy facilities.
Plans for the floating docks were first outlined in 2023, with the facilities expected to enter service in the early 2030s.
According to officials, this approach is intended both to support high-skilled jobs and to preserve the “sovereign British industry” necessary for sensitive defence work.
Alongside the investment in submarine support infrastructure, the Chancellor committed new funding for a marine research vessel.
A government statement said the vessel, scheduled for operation in the early 2030s, would replace the current research ship and continue scientific work on UK waters, including research supporting fishery management.
Both the dock and research vessel projects are described as part of a wider effort to use defence spending to drive growth within the UK, against a backdrop of cross-party ambition to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.
Wes Streeting, who replaced Dan Jarvis as defence secretary in July, told BBC Breakfast that the floating docks showed how defence investment could create “more jobs and opportunities” in the UK.
Wes Streeting said: “Defence spending should make Britain stronger in every sense. That means backing British by buying British wherever our industry can deliver.
“HM Naval Base Clyde is at the heart of our submarine service. Programme Euston will modernise it for decades to come, while backing British shipyards, workers and engineering.
“That is defence driving the reindustrialisation of Britain and strengthening our sovereign capability.”
Last week, the MoD said UK defence-sector investment rose 3.2% to £34.1bn in 2025/26, its highest recorded level.
However, earlier this month, the British Army was reportedly instructed to halt “non-essential” domestic training for units not preparing for overseas deployment as a cost-saving measure.
