31 1月 2025

Babcock and City Council to drive Plymouth’s growth ambitions

We are strengthening our commitment to growing the economy in the South West through an ambitious private and public sector collaboration in Plymouth. We contribute in excess of £1billion 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 our existing strong partnership and will help drive growth in the region for decades to come.  

We’re kick-starting this programme by investing time, resource and expertise to work with our 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 we’re proud to be a founding member of, alongside partners Plymouth City Council and the Royal Navy. Through GAP, we’ll work together to 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.

We are proud to employ more than 7000 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, we are delivering in excess of £1.5bn of major infrastructure projects in partnership with the Ministry of Defence’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.”