Gigafactory client seeks access road contractor

Agratas-Gigafactory_Somerset-2.jpg

The client on a major Sir Robert McAlpine gigafactory job is looking for a contractor to build a ring road around the facility.

Agratas – part of Indian multinational Tata – released a £60m prior information notice (PIN) yesterday for a ring road around its £4bn battery cell manufacturing facility in Somerset.

Sir Robert McAlpine was named as main contractor on the site’s first building – known as Building One – last July. The 22,700 square metre gigafactory is set to be the largest of its kind once it has been built, and could provide 40 per cent of the batteries needed by the domestic car industry by the early 2030s.

Initially, it will supply related companies Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors, though Agratas hopes to open it up to other companies after that.

The £60m job will include the construction of roundabouts, groundworks, and culverts and foundations. The selected contractor will also be responsible for surface water drainage systems, signage, and lighting and landscaping systems.

Agratas is holding a market engagement session in Bridgewater at 2pm on 25 February.

Agratas will be the contracting entity, according to the PIN, but Somerset Council has the option of funding the road contract.

Agratas said last year that the development of Building One will need around 2,100 construction workers at its peak.

Last year, Kelston Sparkes won a three-year groundworks, earthworks and piling-mat installation contract for the scheme.

Stantec is providing integrated design services for the factory, while Turner & Townsend has signed on for cost management services, project management for enabling works and design team procurement.

Last October, McAlpine selected TClarke and NG Bailey as its mechanical and electrical subcontractors on the job.

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Joshua Stein

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