Iconic Belfast shipbuilder Harland & Wolff has a struck a deal for a new £8.5 million initial contract in London.

The firm will work with new client Cory Group on the fabrication of 11 barges, which will be used to transport London's recyclable and non-recyclable waste on the River Thames.

Fabrication will take place at Harland & Wolff's Belfast site, with first steel being cut within approximately eight weeks' time. The programme schedule allows for four barges to be built in tandem, with the entire build programme ending around mid-2023. Fully fabricated barges will be sequentially delivered to Cory on the River Thames.

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Speaking about the new contract, Harland & Wolff, Group CEO John Wood, commented: "With this material contract, we shall be opening up our vast undercover fabrication halls in Belfast and making optimal use of our new robotic welding panel line.

"This contract gives us the opportunity to optimise our production flows in readiness for other fabrication programmes in our pipeline and it demonstrates the variety of fabrication work that our facilities are ideally placed to execute upon.

"I am delighted to have secured this contract with our new client, Cory Group, and look forward to working very closely with them to deliver on their new barge investment programme going forward."