It operated the former Fairfield Shipyard and took its name from the Govan area in which it was located.

The company was formed in 1972 by way of a purchase of the former Fairfield Shipyard in Govan from Sir Robert Smith, Liquidator of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS), itself a product of the amalgamation of several Clydeside yards; Fairfields, Alex Stephens, Charles Connell and Company, Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd. and John Browns.

In 1977 the company was nationalised by the Labour government of James Callaghan under the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 (c. 3) and subsumed into British Shipbuilders.

Investment in plant equipment at the yard during this period included expansion of the steel fabrication facilities and the installation of four 80 ton travelling rope luffing cranes in 1975 by Clarke Chapman, servicing the yard's three slipways, in order to increase the size of units that could be prefabricated.

An additional three 80 ton cranes from Scotstoun Marine Ltd were dismantled and transferred to Govan after the Scotstoun yard closed in 1980; they remain distinctive due to their blue paintwork.