FLYING THE FLAGSHIP

The well-regarded superyacht design firm teamed up with Houlder and Frazer-Nash, which both have extensive experience working with the Ministry of Defence. The pairing paid off as Team Signal was among the final two contestants, along with Team Harland & Wolff. 

What first grabs the attention is the fully glazed domed superstructure and the panoramic circular lounge under the helipad aft. Respectively, these host the Great Exhibition Room, which is a double-height space with a bar cantilevered above it, and the Lighthouse, a visitor centre that serves as a secondary exhibition space.

“The more we worked on it, the more mileage we felt it had, the more interesting the brief became,” says Simon Harris, COO of Houlder, which is best known to the public for its work on the RRS Sir David Attenborough. 

While the practical challenges were complex, Rowell points out that the aesthetic goals were less tangible. “You can score your points and work out this very complicated sort of 3D chess of a vessel, but then it has to touch people, and it has to have resonance,” he says. 

They took a “best of British” approach to the interiors, encompassing both the materials and the country’s artisans and craftspeople. The decor concept revolved around locally sourced noble finishes – woods such as British walnut and British oak, stones like Cumbrian limestone and Gwynedd slate and fabrics including Irish linen and Scottish tweed. They also found a Welsh company that makes finishes out of plastics recovered from the ocean. 

“What was interesting was the combination of that kind of sustainability with a stone carver who is almost a British national treasure himself, who’s done things for Westminster Abbey, the D-Day Memorial, the Bomber Command Memorial… We would have him involved too, which shows the depth of British design heritage and stateliness and the solidity of the boat,” says Bannenberg. 

Also falling under the sustainability umbrella, along with ingenuity, is how the team future-proofed the vessel. “We wanted to make sure that when selecting machinery, from the fuel type to the overall layout, that we weren’t closing any doors, or as few doors as necessary, to future technology,” says Harris. Their project incorporated a facility to carry future fuels, and Harris says they were looking at space on the upper decks for a kite, rotors or sails. 

In addition, they included a laboratory and technology demonstrator facility to showcase and try out emerging green technology. In conjunction with the Lighthouse visitor’s centre, it would be accessible to school groups, who could learn about the inner workings of the vessel and the pathways to sustainable shipping. Providing this type of educational platform was part of the team’s overarching goal to also use the ship to further STEM education and make it accessible to all. 

“We thought there was a great opportunity to use the project very positively in that area,” Harris says. “It would be more than just a ship.”

The feel of the interiors is naturally British, but a “diverse, multicultural and enigmatic” British, says Brown. “We took hand-spun fabrics, from small community-led mills in the Hebrides, to furnish the premium suites. We had artworks created by London-based creators using recycled materials captured from the River Thames. When you walk the vessel, you encounter a multitude of carefully curated details each with their own story, giving these macro insights into every corner of the UK.” 

Clifford Denn packaged up the interior spaces within an exterior design that he describes as “next-generation Britannia”. “A classic raked bow with an elegant sheer line and blue hull were key to the look,” he says.  

It’s a modern design that also embraces heritage elements such as a tiered superstructure and three flag masts. The side-by-side funnels were carefully considered and hark back to the Harland & Wolff ship Canberra, a vessel that Denn says he’s always loved and one that is meaningful to the shipyard’s CEO personally, as Wood first went to sea as a marine engineer on the great ocean liner. “Primarily we wanted a timeless vessel suitable for heads of state, presidents and prime ministers, and not just a large superyacht,” says Denn. 

“Primarily we wanted a timeless vessel suitable for heads of state, presidents and prime ministers, and not just a large superyacht,”

As part of the maximising-points strategy, the team decided to accommodate the Royal Navy’s largest helicopter, the 38-passenger AW101 Merlin. Denn managed to integrate the helipad into the hull form rather than bolting it on. However, this left the design with a very long aft deck, which Denn disguised and visually shortened by adding glass windbreaks. 

A diesel-electric hybrid system with pods was chosen for the fuel efficiency, but this vessel would also have a green system that had never been done before, Payne says. It occurred to him that it really wouldn’t look good for the ship to be manoeuvring in port with the press looking on and the diesel engines emitting smoke, since this is the most inefficient way to use the engines. 

“We hit upon the concept of having another system on board with fuel cells run from methanol, and a battery bank. The idea was that we would charge the batteries from the electric system on board, with the methanol fuel cells giving us enough power to berth the ship,” says Payne. The system would be used mainly for in-port manoeuvring, but if methanol were available locally, the ship could remain green methanol-powered the whole time it was alongside, with the waste product being basically steam and carbon dioxide, which is recycled back into methanol. 

Payne was also keen to use a self-deploying, self-stowing kite, which can save significant fuel, and photovoltaic glass on the double-height slanted aft window in the reception room, which would generate electricity. 

“I think there will be a time in the future when this comes back, either in a government sense or from a private sense.” 

He is still working on behalf of the project, looking at the viability of building and operating the ship on a commercial basis, which would be at zero cost to the taxpayer. 

“We’ve got several people interested in bringing in private investment to get the project moving forward,” says Wood. “I think there will be a time in the future when this comes back, either in a government sense or from a private sense.”

Maiden was careful to avoid overly superyacht-like design elements that would fuel the detractors’ claims of a vanity project. He won an argument with Jon Bannenberg over the stern, opting for a Constanzi classic cruiser stern with a flat transom below the waterline to accommodate the diesel-electric propulsion pods, instead of the straight transom stern commonly seen on yachts that Bannenberg preferred. In addition, adds Maiden, “We have resisted the easy option of establishing several upper decks, for which superyachts have an indulgent reputation. Fewer decks permit enhanced headroom and increased natural light.” 

The hull colour is proposed in two options of blue, a dark one imparting seriousness, and a warmer “friendlier” one, both with the Union Flag insignia on the port and starboard quarters. Three masts are also key to the design. “The MoD brief made no specific mention of royal engagement on board. I nevertheless visualised that on occasions royal participation was likely and three masts would be required at that time: a foremast and, importantly, a mainmast to wear the Royal Standard when appropriate, and a mizzenmast, which in our concept pivots to allow a helicopter to land,” Maiden says. 

Whiteley and Fletcher started from scratch when it came to the general arrangement. As visitors cross the threshold, they would be greeted by a large-format art installation, “a bold statement piece to tell the story of the UK’s diversity”, explains the team’s presentation. For security reasons, the public spaces are grouped furthest aft in the GA, with the exhibition and conference areas being the most accessible, surrounded by open deck space that “provides a panoramic view and the great feeling of being on a ship”. The breakout areas and meeting rooms are a deck above, laid out for maximum social engagement with a welcoming and light decor.

“Britishness” is a theme throughout the interior. For example, in the observation lounge is a Union Jack bar, which Maiden describes as “a room with a warm and friendly atmosphere… that unashamedly flags up British achievements that led the world at the time and that benefit the world today. The first Covid-19 vaccine, the World Wide Web, radar and the jet engine spring to mind.” 

Gary Bird, managing director of security firm PDP Marine, points out that the vessel, as a floating embassy, had to be both hospitable and intensely secure – inherently opposite goals. “The vessel was to welcome a broad spectrum of guests and visitors, while also serving as a platform for statecraft and diplomacy at the highest level.

It was to be a tool for cultural exchange, but it was imperative that it embraced counter-intelligence capabilities commensurate with such a conspicuous global diplomatic facility. Further, it had to be able to protect itself, responding to threats through proportionate escalation and, if necessary, over-match attempts at violent seaborne assault. Quite a task for a yacht, but one I’m proud the consortium delivered,” he says. 

The end of the competition does not mean an end to Maiden’s support for such a vessel, and he is now seeking private investors to fund the build. “I can’t see a political downside if it’s paid for by the private sector,” he says. 

A USP of the design is the LED ribbon that wraps around the superstructure. Seen from above it takes the shape of the Union Flag; it was a subtle way to bring in the emblematic reference. With 3,082 LED tiles, the ribbon is also a ticker tape, able to send out messages in host ports in any language. 

This was the work of the innovative Jason Bruges Studio in London, which also envisioned an interactive LED bulkhead panel that rises through three stories of the ship’s central glazed atrium, reacting as visitors pass by. 

While the exterior styling is thoroughly modern, Briand played with the connection to Britannia with the hull colour and a gold cove stripe, and by recreating the ambiance of the royal yacht’s balcony with a wooden guardrail. 

"Every single person who would walk across the brow... would leave that ship with a positive experience of having been on board"

For the yacht’s interior design, OCEA partnered with Zaha Hadid Architects, a London firm with global influence. “They could bring another aspect to this project in terms of branding and the sort of lived experience,” Houlberg says. “This is about every single person who would walk across the brow, how they would leave that ship with a positive experience of having been on board. Whether they were members of the crew, members of the public, VIPs or heads of state, they all had to have a positive experience. And Zaha are specialists in providing architectural solutions that did that.” 

Houlberg says he felt the project could have led UK shipbuilding into the modern era. While it did not go forward, the technological advances the team made will. “It’s only when you bring together a consortium of businesses like we did that you begin to realise how powerful and complementary the technologies are. They are already benefiting many of our other projects. We’ve designed what I think is the world’s first zero-carbon 90-metre SOV (service operation vessel) for the offshore renewables industry.”