2 min read - 11 Sep, 2025
Rolls-Royce selects partner for major Derby site expansion
Rolls-Royce has announced international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty as its new fissile construction partner, marking a key milestone in the expansion of its Raynesway site.
In June 2023, Rolls-Royce laid out plans to double the size of its submarines site in Derby to meet a growth in demand from the Royal Navy. This is also a key enabler in the company’s commitment to provide all the reactors that will power the future attack submarines as part of the Australia, UK, US trilateral agreement, known as AUKUS.
The expansion will see new manufacturing and office facilities being built and will create 1,170 skilled roles across a range of disciplines, including manufacturing and engineering.
As the work will take place within the nuclear licensed site at Raynesway, the construction of fissile facilities adds a level of complexity and rigour above and beyond that of traditional builds. Balfour Beatty was announced as its non-fissile construction partner last year, so will bring consistency across the construction of the whole Raynesway expansion work.
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Rolls-Royce has made progress on its Raynesway expansion with the appointment of Balfour Beatty as its new fissile construction partner / Picture: Rolls-Royce
Having previously announced the fissile design partners as PROPEL, a joint venture between AtkinsRéalis and Mott MacDonald, this next milestone will see Balfour Beatty work with the partners to bring the design of these new nuclear manufacturing facilities to life.
Terry Meighan, infrastructure director at Rolls-Royce Submarines, said: “The expansion work we have planned is of critical national importance as it enables us to safely increase our speed of manufacture, helping to deliver Dreadnought and the new SSN-AUKUS attack submarines at a much faster rate.
“The experience, pedigree and strong commitment to safety displayed by Balfour Beatty during the tender process means we now have a full complement of design and construction partners across the fissile and non-fissile expansion work. Working together, they will deliver this extensive and critically important programme.”
This latest announcement also marks an important milestone for the expansion programme, with the full collective of partners selected across both its fissile and non-fissile programmes. Multi-disciplinary professional services consultancy WSP was announced as the non-fissile design partner in March last year.
