Historic drydock granted full re-opening

Govan Drydock, in Glasgow, is now operating as a ship repair and maintenance facility having been awarded a contract to project manage the first phase of major restoration and repair work on the iconic ship TS Queen Mary.

Planning consent has now been granted for the site to fully reopen to repair and restore other vessels.

The reopening of the number one drydock is said to be a key component of a wider proposal to transform a neighbourhood with housing and community projects.

The drydock, at the Govan Graving Docks complex, is 168 metres in length and will re-establish repair and maintenance operations for the first time since 1987.

It’s been a while since the matter of what to do with the derelict docks was raised. In 2015 the Clyde Docks Preservation Initiative launched a consultation.

The category A-listed site is the only remaining dock complex in Glasgow, and considered a monument to the people who built it.

Three dry docks were built for the Clyde Navigation Trust between 1869 and 1898, the first dock opening in 1875, the second larger dock in 1886 and the third and largest in 1898.

They were used for winter overhauls and refits of Clyde steamers and described by the Clyde Waterfront, a consortium of organisations who aim to regenerate the entire waterfront, as ‘one of the most complete and evocative pieces of shipbuilding history on the Clyde’.

“With support from Glasgow City Heritage Trust, the Arrol-built steel caisson dock gate will now be fully restored to working order, which will allow vessels to enter the dock – and make use of dry docking facilities, commencing with the re-engineering project for the iconic 1933 turbine steamer, Queen Mary,” said Paul Sweeney MSP, Convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Maritime and Shipbuilding Cross-Party Group.

“After 36 years of dereliction, it has been a life-long dream for me to see the rejuvenation of commercial shipbuilding and repair services on the upper Clyde.”