Harland & Wolff(HARL) , the maritime engineering specialist, announced today that the company has now submitted a planning application to extend its fabrication halls at the Belfast Facility, as part of the £77 million Recapitalisation Plan for the FSS Programme.
The application submitted is for a 4,997m2 extension to the existing fabrication halls, which will enable the automated fabrication of panels of up to 16m2 in size. This expansion will continue to drive the FSS Programme, as well as multiple projects across all the company's markets.
At present, the Company operates from fabrication halls in Belfast covering approximately 35,000m2, and it is these halls that will incorporate the majority of the Company's upgrades, with a key focus being on automated and robotic machinery.
As part of this plan, demolition works on certain existing structures in the yard will be undertaken before the end of the month to facilitate the construction of the new facilities. These upgrades, along with an increase in the overall size of the fabrication halls, will ensure that the Company is prepared for future domestic and export opportunities already in the pipeline.
John Wood, Group Chief Executive Officer of Harland & Wolff commented: "It is pleasing to see that the regeneration plans that have been worked on since the acquisition of Belfast Facility in December 2019 are now submitted. The extension of the fabrication halls will give us a substantially improved production flow making us more efficient and cost effective."
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The extension of the fabrication halls in the Belfast yard will further develop one of the already most technologically advanced marine fabrication facilities in the UK, with the facility currently possessing the latest state-of-the-art machinery and production flows.
The announcement today comes after Harland & Wolff were officially awarded a £1.6bn contract in January of this year, of which £77m of infrastructure was set to be invested in the company’s Belfast and Appledore shipyards. Along with this, the contract was a welcome boost for Northern Ireland, set to generate a total of 900 shipyard jobs in the Belfast site alone.
Investors welcomed the news of the planned works this morning, with Harland & Wolff shares jumping by 9% in early trading. The company continues to announce a regular string of successes following the signing of the £1.6bn contract, so make sure to follow Harland & Wolff to stay up to date with the latest updates from the company.