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Marine and Renewables
With a strong industry base and research facilities and a broad range of capabilities and infrastructure covering marine operations and engineering, marine and environmental sciences, advanced manufacturing, composites, aerospace and defence, Plymouth provides the ideal location and supply chain opportunities for growth in this sector.
The city is a global centre of excellence for marine science and technology with one of the largest clusters of expertise in Europe. The building of ships and floating structures and the building of pleasure and sporting boats in Plymouth boast location quotients (LQ) of 40.5 and 42.0 respectively - around 40 times the national average.
View the Marine sector factsheet
National Marine Park
The unique waters of Plymouth Sound have been instrumental in shaping our city and nation’s heritage, culture, wealth and security. The National Marine Park will encourage greater prosperity and engagement with our marine environment.
Building on our current work and existing structures, it will support a new approach to how we value and work in harmony with the natural environment to deliver the greatest benefit for all. Our vision is for a National Marine Park that supports thriving businesses, connected communities and inspired visitors.
Find out more on the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park
Download the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park document, giving an overview of the project, its vision, partnership and future.
Plymouth's Marine Protected Area
Being gifted with the natural landscape of Plymouth Sound and Tamar Estuaries, the area provides iconic views, a diverse abundance of marine life and it is proud of its naval and cultural heritage. Plymouth as a long history of maritime exploration and research that is intimately tied to the sea. The area has been designated as the Plymouth Sound & Tamar Estuaries Marine Protected Area (MPA) and is globally recognised and uniquely positioned to balance commercial interests, defence, travel, recreation and conservation. It is an area of international marine importance and we all play a part in preserving it.
We have an opportunity to conserve and engage with this precious place and to enable us and future generations to enjoy, work and live in partnership with it.
Find out more on the Plymouth MPA website.
Call4Fish
Call4Fish was set up in direct response to Covid19, to enable people to buy safely and to help UK fishermen and local traders. Since its launch, it has grown to become a national service supporting fishermand and businesses across England and beyond.
The video below, as part of Co-op Fortnight, showcases Plymouth’s history-rich fishing industry with live Q&As and a cooking demonstration from Plymouth City Council Leader Tudor Evans.
Maritime UK South West
Maritime UK South West is a public, business, research partnership which brings together the breadth of ocean economy to create a world leading ocean technology cluster. It enables innovation and collaboration, finding the right business support and skills and driving strategic development and investment.
Maritime UK South West aims to champion and promote our sector, internally, nationally and abroad, driving clean growth and building on our centres of excellence in offshore renewables, marine autonomy and clean ocean technology.
Internationally recognised as Britain’s Ocean City, Plymouth is well known for its marine science, technology and manufacturing capabilities.
Plymouth Sound is one of the oldest continually studied marine areas on earth and is globally recognised for the strength of its marine science and technology
Marine Business Technology Centre
The Marine Business Technology Centre (MBTC) is an EU Funded support programme designed for Devon-based marine businesses to develop the next generation of technology.
Based in Endeavour House at the Oceansgate Marine Enterprise Zone in Devonport, the MBTC gives clients access to the Plymouth Smart Sound proving zone, funding programmes, research and development support and links to other commercial collaborative partners to aid the production of cutting edge marine solutions.
Smart Sound Plymouth is Britain’s premier proving area for designing, testing and developing cutting edge products and services. Co-ordinated through the Marine Business Technology Centre, Smart Sound Plymouth is a partnership between five organizations boasting considerable expertise in autonomous systems, environmental sensor technologies, alternative propulsion, advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity. Funding was recently secured to build a cutting edge communication system. This will be the UK’s first 5G testbed for marine innovation, providing high speed communications on the water and connecting the existing network of sensors, which includes scientific data buoy networks and autonomous vessels
Providing access to a unique combination of:
- State-of-the-art offshore and onshore facilities
- Some of the world’s foremost marine science and technology organisations
- Nearly a 1,000 sq kilometres of authorised, de-conflicted water space
- Funded support for eligible businesses
Oceansgate occupies a 35 hectare site on the southern edge of Devonport Dockyard and forms a unique complex of industrial buildings, and docks for commercial use with direct deep water access. It brings together marine businesses to create a world-class hub for marine industries in Plymouth
Oceansgate is being developed in three phases: phase 1 completed in April 18 with tenants including The Maritime Coastal Agency, Blue Ocean Monitoring and CMS Geotech. Phase 2 will offer new office and industrial space which is due to complete in Dec 20, a feasibility study is currently being undertaken to create a marine innovation centre. Phase 3 will enable availability of docks, deep water jetties, land and a bespoke prototyping centre.
The University of Plymouth is world-renowned for its research, teaching and training across the marine sciences. Indeed, in 2012 it was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in respect of its legacy dating back 150 years to the School of Navigation. Today, there are around 2,600 students enrolled across a variety of marine-related programmes in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences, and the School of Engineering. They are taught and supported by hundreds of academics, among them, some of the most respected researchers in Europe in areas such as marine biology, oceanography, coastal processes, climate change, and marine engineering and marine renewable energy.
The University is leading the ORE (Offshore Renewable Energy) Supergen consortium, a multi-million pound funded programme to bring together a network of academic, industrial and policy stakeholders to champion the sector.
The University has a range of facilities that are unmatched by almost any other university in the country, including a waterfront Marine Station, at Coxside, which is home to a scientific diving centre, aquaria, wet labs and the University’s fleet of boats. Among them is a dedicated oceanographic research vessel, Falcon Spirit, which has capacity for 14 crew members, and can work up to 60 miles from port. The University has significant underwater exploration capacity through its state-of-the-art Remotely Operated Vehicles which can explore, film in HD, and conduct operations at depths in excess of 500m. The Marine Building, located on campus, houses state-of-the-art research facilities positioning Plymouth as a global centre for marine energy research. These include one of the most advanced wave tank and testing facilities in the country including a hydrodynamic test laboratory with tidal and wave test basins, ship simulator and Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems labs. It also offers dedicated technical support and office facilities for up to 150 marine institute researchers and technology developers.
The Marine Institute is made up of 3,000 staff, researchers and students, the University of Plymouth’s Marine Institute is the first and largest such institute in the UK. It provides the gateway to the University’s state-of-the-art facilities and extensive pool of world-leading experts, who are working to understand the relationship between the way we live, the seas that surround us and the development of sustainable policy solutions. The staff represented by the Marine Institute are housed within the faculty of science and engineering and form the broadest portfolio of marine expertise within a single institute in Europe.
Peninsula Research Institute for Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE)
University of Exeter and Plymouth University are the founding members of PRIMaRE. It is a centre of excellence delivering world-class research and technology transfer in marine energy, accelerating growth in the marine renewable energy industry and in support of Wave Hub. It is helping the South West to become a region of international significance by offering renewables testing, wave energy device arrays, marine renewable energy components and much more.
PML is an independent and impartial marine research laboratory, and registered charity, with a track record of over 40 years of innovative and globally recognised science on the interactions between the marine environment and society.
It collaborates in research projects across the world, in addition to which its scientists contribute to policy development, public understanding of science, capacity building in developing nations, as well as the application of science.
PML’s £25 million research facility on the Plymouth Hoe is home to state-of-the-art facilities ranging from the world’s fastest atomic force microscope that allows scientists to see individual strands of DNA to a dedicated laboratory for the testing and development of pioneering scientific sensors and platforms.
It manages one of the most comprehensive and longest shelf sea observatories in the world, is home to a global Earth observation processing capability and a recognised global leader in marine ecosystem and coastal ocean hydrodynamic modelling. It is internationally recognised for being at the forefront of socio-economic marine environmental research.
PML Applications Ltd is the gateway to accessing the latest marine research and technology for commercial use, providing outstanding marine consultation and services to a global client base. It is home to three Centres of Expertise working with industry such as shipping, marine renewable energy, oil and gas, shipping, aquaculture, ballast water and classification.
Through the Centres for Ballast Water Centre and Marine Biofouling and Corrosion it focuses on biofouling management, the development and testing of antifouling technologies, development of innovative new ballast water treatment systems, and testing ballast water systems for efficacy, regulatory type approval and compliance with international and US regulations.
The Marine Biological Association (MBA)
The MBA is the longest established marine laboratory in the UK. Since its foundation in 1884, the MBA at Plymouth has had a rich history and has seen many highly significant scientific discoveries at its Citadel Hill laboratory. Today, MBA scientists deliver an internationally-renowned programme of scientific research that is highlighted on these pages. Resident workers and visitors alike enjoy the high-quality facilities and services that we can provide. the MBA conducts, promotes and supports scientific research into all aspects of life in the sea.
The MBA have hosted 7 Nobel Prize winners.
The MBA operates the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey, which is the most geographically extensive and longest running marine biological survey in the world.
Plymouth's Marine Academy is the first of its kind in the UK. It opened in 2010 for 11-18 year olds and specialises in the marine environment, encompassing science and engineering, and focuses on employment pathways which are integral to a marine environment
The College’s Regional Centre of Excellence for STEM provides state-of-the-art facilities for the marine sector.
Working closely with industry partners, the College runs apprenticeships and university-level courses in naval architecture, marine engineering, boat building, marine autonomous vehicles and marine science.
The fishing industry lands £16 million worth of fish in Plymouth each year, and accounts for around 21% of the entire English fishing fleet by jobs-supported.
Plymouth Fish Market consistently features in the top 3 ports in England, by landed weight and value.
Download the Plan for Sustainable Fishing
Marine Leisure
Princess Yachts International, one of the leading motor yacht manufacturers in Europe, builds M Class yachts in Plymouth.
Plymouth has also hosted many global yachting events such as Vendee Globe, Rolex Fastnet, Bakerly Transat and America’s Cup.
Plymouth boasts the second highest number of Gold Anchor marinas in the UK
Plymouth is home to the largest Naval Base in Western Europe.
Devonport Dockyard directly employs around 11,600 workers, made up of roughly 5,000 military and 6,600 civilians.
The activities undertaken at the Naval Base and Dockyard generate £685 million in GVA and is the only facility in the UK licensed to undertake critical competence in the deep maintenance of nuclear submarines.
Of equal importance is the valuable contribution to national defence made by the vessels docked at Devonport.
Key businesses in the city
- ABP
- Applied Automation
- Argans
- Atlantis Marine Power
- Babcock International Group
- Brittany Ferries
- Fugro
- Interfish
- Manuplas
- Marine AI
- Marine Biological Association
- Maritime & Coastguard Agency
- Mashfords
- MLA College
- MSubs
- Ocean Electrics Group
- Plymouth Boat Trips
- PML Applications Ltd
- Princess Yachts International
- Sonardyne
- Thales
- Turnchapel Wharf
- WITT
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