Shipbuilding Resumes at Birkenhead's Cammell Laird

Shipbuilding has returned to the banks of the River Mersey, as work begins on an aircraft carrier at Cammell Laird.

More than 350 people are working on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, at the Birkenhead shipyard, who secured the £44m contract from Ministry of Defense in January.

It is an important occasion for the ship building company, which in 2000, after nearly two centuries of global success, went into bankruptcy after several major projects failed to materialize.

Reddington Finance purchased the yard in 2004 and then sold it to Peel Holdings three years later.

The site has been restored and revamped by the development company and important contracts have been secured from the Ministry of Defense.

In 2008 it won a naval contract and then in January 2010 it was awarded the HMS Queen Elizabeth project.

William Laird founded the Birkenhead Iron Works in 1824 and by 1828 it was building ships.

Cammell Laird will work on the warship until December 2012.