Navantia Belfast Hall Backs 900 Jobs and UK Apprenticeships

Shipbuilding is hiring again in Northern Ireland, and that is good news for anyone looking at UK apprenticeships in skilled trades. Navantia UK opened a new fabrication hall at its Belfast yard on 2 November 2026. The Ministry of Defence says the site now supports more than 900 skilled jobs and apprenticeships.

Defence minister Luke Pollard opened the building, called the Resurgent Hall, at the former Harland & Wolff shipyard.

Key facts

What the new hall adds

The extended hall gives the yard an extra 5,000 square metres of space. It comes with new cranes, robotic plasma cutting and a mechanised panel line. These are modern steel-working tools, so the yard needs people who can run and maintain them as well as traditional welders and fabricators.

The famous Samson and Goliath cranes are also being refurbished.

The ships behind the jobs

The work is for the Fleet Solid Support programme: three support ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary named Resurgent, Reliant and Resourceful. They are due to enter service in the early 2030s, and the MOD says the project is on schedule and on budget. That means steady work for several years.

Navantia UK chief executive Donato Martinez said shipbuilding is returning to Belfast. Ministry figures also show defence spending in Northern Ireland rose 63% in real terms in 2025/26, to £464m.

Which skills are needed

Shipyards usually hire for:

• Welders, platers and steel fabricators
• Electricians and pipefitters
• CNC and robotic cutting operators
• Engineers and naval architects
• Project, planning and quality staff

Navantia has not published salaries or a list of open roles in the announcement.

How to apply

Look for current vacancies and apprenticeship intakes on Navantia UK's official website. The announcement did not give a closing date or a specific intake. Defence work can involve security checks, so read each advert's nationality and clearance requirements carefully.

What it means for job seekers

• Apprenticeships are the main door in. With 750 planned by 2030, school leavers and career changers have a real route into shipbuilding.
• Long contracts mean job security. The ships will be built over several years.
• Modern skills pay off. Experience with robotic or automated fabrication is a plus.
• Check security rules before applying from outside the UK.

More Northern Ireland hiring: Camlin's 100 engineering jobs in Lisburn and Ross Companies in Ballymena.

More openings: all UK jobs