British studio Winch Design has revealed its original designs for the successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, which were shelved in 1997. The 150 metre design was commissioned by GEC Marine in anticipation of the royal yacht being fully withdrawn from service.
Designer Andrew Winch has chosen to release the designs after a recent campaign to revive the original Britannia and turn her into a floating embassy resulted in a House of Commons debate.
Although foreign secretary Boris Johnson has admitted that funding a new royal yacht is “not a priority” for the government, the campaign is still gathering momentum. The Daily Telegraph reports that a consortium of private investors recently pledged £250,000 towards a cost-benefit analysis of building a new royal yacht, which will be carried out by Deloitte.
The Winch design for Britannia's successor provides us with a tantalising insight into what the royal yacht could have looked like if the plans had not been scrapped by the Labour Party 19 years ago.
The red hull, navy topsides and white superstructure are suitably patriotic, while the glass dome amidships adds a regal flourish to the design. Key features include an aft-deck superyacht helipad and a spectacular superyacht staircase leading into the central foyer.
"Our interior configuration for Britannia allows for the greatest flexibility so that the space is suitable for many purposes," Winch added. "The interior design is timeless and understated — a showcase for the best of British craftsmanship and design, both traditional and contemporary." Winch estimates that a fully modernised version of the design would cost around £100 million to build.
Superyachts currently under development at the British design studio include the 111 metre Project TIS, which was recently given a technical launch at German yard Lürssen ahead of its planned 2018 delivery.