He said the £3.8bn contract would lead to the construction of the largest vessels ever sailed by the Royal Navy.

 The new 65,000-tonne carriers - HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales - will enter service in 2014 and 2016.

David Hewitt, Director of the new Marine Design Centre in Newcastle said: "The International Marine Design Centre is well aware of the opportunity that this announcement brings to the region and has been in discussion with the principal players in the aircraft carrier project for some time.

"The region's designers have much to offer in developing the design of the aircraft carriers. The International Marine Design centre provides a unique facility that enables a regional design team to work in a fully-equipped design office in Newcastle and be linked electronically to the principal aircraft carrier project offices around the UK".

Terry Lawson, Business Services Senior Specialist with One NorthEast said: "One NorthEast has always recognised that the Marine Design Centre - the first of its kind - will position the region to compete for major design contracts all over the world. 

"It will enable designers from different companies in the North East to work together under one roof, providing a single port of call for international customers and marketing the region's design expertise to the world.

"The centre aims to help add £100m to the marine and defence sectors through new contracts by 2016, and certainly this could include work on the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers, as well as a wealth of contracts in buoyant civil oil & gas and naval markets such as Australia, Malaysia and China."

Northern Defence Industries Group Managing Director Trevor Harrison, said: "The sheer scale of the aircraft carrier contracts means that there is huge potential for engineering, sub-contract and supply chain work for firms all over the North East.

"NDI has been involved in the carriers project right from the beginning, and we are well placed to help develop the complex supply chains that will be needed by the prime contractors between now and 2014, which is the projected in-service date for the first of these 65,000 tonne vessels. NDI Ltd is currently working to develop a fabrication supply chain for the construction of modular elements of the upper decks for the carriers."