Overpass, level crossing removal among early construction work on AUKUS Osborne nuclear submarine shipyard

Early work on a new nuclear submarine shipyard at Osborne, tipped to become the envy of the world, will start this year. See what is planned to happen first.

Building a new overpass and carparks, and moving extensive gas pipelines and high-voltage power lines are among the most urgent priorities to prepare for construction of a new submarine shipyard at Osborne.

Head of Australian Naval Infrastructure, Andrew Seaton, has revealed new details about the project that will create about 4000 jobs and establish Osborne as “the best submarine construction yard in the world” under the AUKUS security pact.

“The yard at Barrow-in-Furness (in Britain) is from the Victorian times and it has been modified and upgraded over the years,” Mr Seaton said.

“What we build here will be a brand new, state-of-the-art yard, so I would like to think that this will be the envy of the other submarine construction yards.”

Australian Naval Infrastructure boss Andrew Seaton, Deputy Premier Susan Close, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong

Immediate priorities include building a new overpass on Pelican Point Rd and removing a level crossing used by freight trains that causes delays to traffic on the main access route to the shipyard.

Mr Seaton said the new shipyard project, with construction lasting until the end of this decade, would provide extensive opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses.

“The scale of the project is very, very large – we have about 75ha of land earmarked to build the yard,” he said.

“A lot of the construction of this yard will come from local suppliers.”

Mr Seaton said work would begin this year on the Pelican Point Rd overpass, as well as building carparks and relocating utilities such as gas pipelines and overhead power lines on the 75ha future shipyard site.

Over coming years, various infrastructure will be constructed on the site, including manufacturing halls, painting halls and a “consolidation hall”, where all components of the future SSN-AUKUS nuclear submarines will be put together before being launched.

“Parts of the yard where we are manufacturing the hull compartments … will be non-nuclear. But then the part of the yard where we will receive the already constructed nuclear reactor and then consolidate it into the submarine, clearly that will be a nuclear facility, and that will come with very, very stringent nuclear safety and security requirements,” Mr Seaton said.

SA Civil Contractors Federation chief executive Rebecca Pickering said the project would supercharge the careers of new civil apprentices who could go on to earn more than $100,000 a year.

“These are secure and lucrative professions, as they form the workforce needed by our state and federal governments to build and maintain our state’s infrastructure assets,” she said.

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