Falmouth is to be the headquarters of the newly formed A&P Group Defence division. With many top level Ministry of Defence (MoD) contracts in the pipeline the Group is further strengthening its relationship with the MoD at a time when the government has announced that it is to spend over £63 billion in the next decade on the procurement and support of surface ships and submarines.

Gerald Pitts, who now takes on the role of Managing Director of A&P Group Defence, will lead the new division. Gerald will take responsibility for the current CST and MARS UKCATTS contracts and the pursuit of contracts for the Type 31e frigates and Type 45 destroyers, amongst others.

Gerald is personally spearheading an A&P Group management bid team that will be tendering for part of a 10 year, £900 million pound Ministry of Defence (MOD) contract to refit and repair ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

All six Royal Navy Type 45 Daring Class destroyers have to be re-engined to fix propulsion issues. Established in 2014, Project Napier is a two pronged programme aimed at fixing the problems at a cost of £280 million. A&P will be chasing this and many more contracts including building the Type 31e frigates.

Steve Jones has now been appointed Managing Director of Operations and Site Director at A&P Falmouth. Steve will be responsible for all operational projects and site-specific issues in Falmouth. Both men take up their respective positions this week.

David McGinley, Group Managing Director of A&P Group said: “Both appointments and the creation of a group-wide defence division demonstrate a significant step change in the way we will deliver both future MoD opportunities and our commercial activities within the ship repair, refit and energy markets.

“Given the number of future MoD programmes we hope to be involved in, it seemed a very natural decision to have one specialist division dedicated to this part of the business. This will be a considerable task and we’re pleased that we can call upon Gerald’s depth of experience and strong client relationships to lead this team.

“Steve takes on a critical role heading up our Falmouth business and he will be instrumental in continuing our efforts to develop A&P Falmouth as a centre of excellence for both commercial and Ministry of Defence work.”

A&P Group has the MoD contract to customise and fit out all four of the RFA’s new fleet Tide class tankers and co-ordinate full military Capability Assessment Trials to prepare the ships for operational service, as well as a contract to support and maintain RFA ships at home and abroad until 2018.

Under the MoD’s RFA Through Life Support Contracts, A&P Group provides maintenance support to groups of MoD vessels including RFA Argus and the RFA Bay Class vessels Mounts Bay, Cardigan Bay and Lyme Bay.