Aerospace and defence giant Rolls-Royce is looking to establish a hub in Cardiff to support the delivery of a new multi-billion-pound next generation nuclear submarine contract for Australia that promises to create thousands of new jobs.
In March it was confirmed that Rolls-Royce Submarines will provide reactors to power new attack submarines as part of the tri-lateral agreement between Australia, the 海角视频 and the US - the so called A海角视频US programme. The 海角视频 Government has awarded BAE Systems a £4bn contract to cover development work up to 2028, allowing it to start detailed design work on the submarines, which the Australia government have commissioned as a bulwark against what is seen as growing Chinese military power in south east Asia.
Giving evidence to the Senedd’s Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee interim chair of Great British Nuclear (GBN) Simon Bowen, confirmed that Rolls-Royce is looking at investing in the Welsh capital. He added that the wider nuclear sector in the 海角视频, with new nuclear power stations and a portfolio of small modular reactors (SMRs), have the potential to create more than 200,000 new jobs.
GBN was set up by 海角视频 Government as an arm’s length body responsible for overseeing delivery of new nuclear projects, including the competition for the delivery of SMRs, which Rolls-Royce is a bidder for.
While not specifying the potential number of new jobs that could be created through a dedicated hub in Cardiff as part of Roll-Royce’s role in the A海角视频US contract, Mr Bowen told the cross-party committee of Senedd members: “You may well be aware that Rolls-Royce Submarines are in conversations with Cardiff Council and Cardiff University about setting up a hub, so that we can bring the engineering to the people as opposed to shifting them.
"So, leave them where they live, and love living, and have grown up, and bring the engineering to them. Anything we can do to encourage the council, the universities, to grow that capability and create a hub of excellence and a hub of capability in the engineering sense would be really important and very, helpful.”
Rolls-Royce was asked to comment. Any new operation for the company, which has its HQ in Derbyshire, would require a secured site with good transport links. One potential long-term location is the proposed Hendre Lakes business park at St Mellons on the outskirts of Cardiff, that will be integrated into a planned new station on the South Wales to London mainline.
The business park and £120m Cardiff Parkway station projects have been developed by Cardiff Parkway Developments. The Welsh Government has a minority 10% equity stake in the business, in which financial services giant Investec has the biggest equity interest. The Hendre Lakes scheme could see up to 900,000 sq ft of new office, retail and leisure space developed over the long-term.
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Both projects were called in by the Welsh Government last year. An independent inspector’s report has been completed, but has yet to handed over for consideration to Welsh Government ministers by civil servants. A decision is expected early next year.
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On the job creation potential from new nuclear projects, both defence and civil, Mr Bowen said they were “breathtaking” while noting the challenge of ensuring a supply of required skilled workers.
The chairman said: “I sit on the cross-government nuclear skills taskforce that was set up a few months ago because of the scale of the issue. This is not just a civil nuclear issue, it is a civil and defence issue, because the defence programme is growing so rapidly. Many of the skills, probably up to 80% that we’ll need in the build phase are not nuclear skills, and you’re competing with other infrastructure programmes.”
He added: “Over the next 15 years, numbers vary from an extra 150,000 to 250,000, maybe up to 40,000 new engineers in the next five years. So, the numbers are enormous. The main areas that we’re focused on are PhDs, graduates and apprentices, and there’s going to have to be substantial investment to grow the capability across the 海角视频 in all three of those areas to probably double, if not treble, the number of PhDs and graduates particularly, and at least double the number of apprentices that we need to be developed.
"So, that’s a huge opportunity for the education establishments in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, and then where we might place the apprenticeship schools. So, anything we can do to encourage the universities to take on more graduate places, and for the Welsh Government and the 海角视频 Government to fund that -and that will come as part of our report - will be really important.
"The key change is going to have to be, very collaborative as opposed to people working in silos, and there will be a charter that will come out as part of the nuclear skills taskforce that people sign up to work together, and what I would do is encourage Welsh companies, Welsh education departments, and the government, to absolutely embrace that and be part of it.
" So, it is a very big challenge that we’ve got on our hands, but we will not solve this by working in opposition to each other; it’s got to be a very collaborative effort across the whole of the sector.”