The industry now

What's happening now?

Exciting things are happening. Scottish shipyards are gearing up to play their role in building the two new aircraft carriers and other ships. The Scottish Marine Technologies Training Project (SMTTP) aims to highlight the current and future needs of the industry for skilled staff and provide a gateway to a range of job opportunities in the shipbuilding and the wider engineering industries.

The project been developed by Scottish Enterprise with support from the shipbuilding companies, further education colleges and a range of public agencies. 

How will we build the biggest aircraft carriers The Royal Navy has ever commissioned?

A bit like you'd build an enormous IKEA wardrobe - only the plans are just a bit more complicated. Steel will be cut and the individual parts will be made up into modules. The completed modules will be put together to make up huge blocks, each fitted out as far as possible with pipes and cables and equipment. Blocks will be built in a variety of yards in Scotland and the rest of the UK. Then they'll be put on massive barges floated around the coast, under the Forth Bridges and into a specially adapted dock at Rosyth. (Enlarging the dock will be an engineering challenge in its own right, including the installation of Britain's biggest 'Goliath' crane.)

Once all the sections are on site in Fife they'll be joined together and the superstructure will be fitted. Weapons systems, power supplies, kitchens, living quarters, workshops, radar, sonar and all the other things that keep an aircraft carrier on the go will all need to be engineered into the vessels. It's going to take time and hard work and serious talent.

CADMID cycle

Designing building, and maintaining warships is a long-tem business. Learn more about the CADMID cycle (opens in a new window).

The list of top-line contractors is very impressive - including Rolls Royce Motion Control, Converteam and MacTaggart Scott. There will be numerous sub-contractors involved, too. And, with the right training, you can be on board to help. View some of the companies involved in the building of the CVF and contact them today - it's your future!

It's not just about ships...

Aircraft carriers and destroyers are just the start of many projects that will be keeping Scotland busy over the years to come. There's a lot more in the pipeline for the trained engineers of the future. For instance, the Commonwealth Games are coming to Glasgow in 2014 and there's accommodation to be built, stadiums to be kitted out and all sorts of work that requires engineers.

The oil and gas industries continue to be real engineering hotbeds. The future will see a growth in renewable energy and engineers will be needed to construct wind farms and tidal energy installations. A wide range of companies and industries will continue to need skilled engineers and the qualifications you will receive as part of your apprenticeship will be a very valuable asset over the years to come.