By Lars Niven

WORKERS AT Rosyth dockyard were celebrating last night after it emerged they have won a £20 million contract to refurbish the HMS Ark Royal.

Owners Babcock successfully saw off competition from several other bidders to land the work which will help safeguard the remaining 1400 jobs at the Fife yard.

Yesterday’s news came as something of a surprise to many as it was expected the announcement about who had won the lucrative contract would be made next week.

However, the Ministry of Defence confirmed Babcock had outbid its rivals.

The Ark Royal, which underwent a major refit at Rosyth several years ago, is scheduled to arrive in Fife next January.

The aircraft carrier will remain there for 11 months for what an MoD spokesman called “regeneration” work.

The contract will include upgrading the flagship’s marine and weapons systems and its ability to cope with more modern aircraft.

Although the MoD would not put an exact figure on the value of the contract, it is understood it is worth between £15 and £20 million to Babcock.

The MoD spokesman said last night, “we can confirm that Babcock have been successful in coping for the HMS Ark Royal contract.

“She will be at Rosyth roughly from the start of January 2006 for 11 months.”

Babcock declined to comment on the news until an official statement was made by the MoD.

However, the deal was warmly welcomed in Fife.

Dunfermline West MSP Scott Barrie told The Courier, “That is absolutely fantastic news and is a tribute to both the workforce and the hard work done by a number of people, including my colleague Rachel Squire (the MP for Dunfermline West).

“She has been very concerned about the gap in the yard’s order book and knew the Ark Royal contract was necessary to plug that gap.”

Mr Barrie said as well as safeguarding jobs the deal would help retain many of the core skills at the dockyard, which would enable Babcock to compete effectively for work in the future.

Dunfermline East MSP Helen Eadie said, “That is first-class news and something I know the workforce have been waiting anxiously to hear.”

Babcock is also hoping to land a major share of the contract to build the Royal Navy’s next generation of aircraft carriers.

However, that work is not likely to come on stream for some time and the company needed to fill the gap in its order book.