Princess Royal Officially Opens Glasgow Shipbuilding Academy

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal has officially opened BAE Systems’ Applied Shipbuilding Academy in Glasgow at a ceremony at the Company’s Scotstoun site. 

The £12 million state-of-the-art training facility, which provides life-long learning to the entire workforce, will help ensure that current and future employees reach their full potential in priority areas for the shipbuilding and maritime industry.

Measuring 5,500m2, the Academy comprises a multipurpose flexible learning hub and a modern trade hall, where students can test their practical skills. 

The hub opened in September 2024, welcoming almost 300 new apprentices and graduates. It includes over 30 teaching zones and a cutting-edge science, technology, engineering and maths innovation space, alongside an exhibition and conference area. 

The trade hall provides a high quality, hands-on training environment where learners are fully immersed in realistic ship mock-ups. Since opening in December 2024, 60 craft apprentices have completed or begun an eight-week shipbuilding training course, including both vocational and theory-based lessons within fabrication, electrical, sheet metal work, welding and pipefitting. Another 30 apprentices will begin training before June.

Simon Lister, Managing Director of BAE Systems’ Naval Ships business said:

"It’s a tremendous honour to welcome Her Royal Highness to our Applied Shipbuilding Academy to meet with some of our colleagues and see first-hand how we’re developing the next generation of shipbuilders. The Academy is an exceptional facility, which will help provide innovative career-long learning and skills development activities for more than 4,500 employees. This will help ensure we have a pipeline of talent available to deliver the best possible equipment to the Royal Navy and our allies around the world as they operate in an increasingly challenging and complex environment."

The Company’s training curriculums and new facilities are a key element of the modernisation and digitalisation of its Govan and Scotstoun yards, directly supporting the delivery of eight Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy, as well as variants in Australia and Canada, alongside potential future orders.

The construction of the Janet Harvey Hall, a cutting-edge new shipbuilding facility in Govan, is also set to be completed in the coming weeks. The new facilities, together with a range of additional investments in technologies and equipment, form an overall £300m investment in BAE Systems’ two shipbuilding sites in Glasgow.