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Gravity welcomes Agratas Gigafactory as first site occupier

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GRAVITY WELCOMES AGRATAS GIGAFACTORY AS FIRST SMART CAMPUS OCCUPIER

Plans to build Britain’s biggest electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Somerset have been announced.

Agratas – Tata Group’s global battery business – have confirmed that the Gravity Smart Campus located near Bridgwater has been chosen as the location of its new UK gigafactory.

This will be the first time Somerset will have been formally confirmed as the location for the UK’s new gigafactory. It represents a £4 billion investment in Somerset, which will directly create 4,000 new jobs and thousands more in the wider supply chain.

And it is hugely significant for the UK as a whole. By the early 2030s, it will contribute almost half of the projected battery manufacturing capacity required for the UK automotive sector.

Local people will be kept informed at all stages of the development. People living near the site – previously known as the Royal Ordnance Factory 37 – will soon be receiving an introductory leaflet from Agratas. As owner of 50% of the remaining land holdings, This is Gravity Limited will continue to liaise with local community and stakeholders and collaborate with Agratas.

Martin Bellamy, Chairman and Tom Curtis, Co–Founders of Gravity said: “It’s impossible to overstate how important this is for the UK. It is the catalyst to kick-start the electric vehicle revolution in the UK.

As the biggest battery gigafactory in the UK, and one of the largest in Europe, its transformational impact will be enormous.

We look forward to working closely with Agratas, Somerset Council, Bridgwater & Taunton College and wider stakeholders to deliver this gigafactory as part of the Gravity Smart Campus.”

This development will enable the South West to ‘Take Charge’ and accelerate the UK’s clean and inclusive growth revolution, creating new job and business opportunities in future-facing sectors.

Councillor Bill Revans, Leader of Somerset Council, said: “This is momentous for the county, its economy and for future generations. It’s about seizing an incredible opportunity to be at the heart of the UK’s green energy industry that will create thousands of highly-skilled, well-paid, green jobs.”

Andy Berry, Principal and CEO of Bridgwater and Taunton College, welcomed the news. He said: “I’m delighted by this announcement and what it means for our community and the wider region. We’ve got a great deal of experience in workforce development – big infrastructure projects like Hinkley Point C.

…We can draw on that experience. We’ve been here and we’ve done this and Agratas can be tremendously confident in our community and in our workforce.”

ENDS

For further media information contact: r.stevens@salamanca-group.com

  • For more information about the Gravity Campus visit thisisgravity.co.uk
  • Drone footage and other Gravity material are available here.
  • Agratas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons. It designs, develops and manufactures high-quality, high-performance, sustainable batteries applied to multiple use cases in the mobility and energy sectors.
  • Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own Board of Directors.
  • Gravity is the UK’s first strategic commercial smart campus and a blueprint for a cleaner, smarter future. Anchored by the 40Gwh Agratas Gigafactory, the campus will be the catalyst for economic uplift across the South West. Delivering the Gravity campus will support the wider efforts towards transport decarbonisation as well as the UK’s acceleration progress on electrification.
  • Gravity is at the heart of an ideal ecosystem and is the platform of choice to stimulate home-grown advanced battery manufacturing, it offers unrivalled connectivity, planning flexibility and access to world-class assets and talent pool with expertise in innovation and clean growth. Underpins the ability to serve a multitude of customers across sectors in the transition to a net zero economy.

Gravity Green Bridge Shortlisted for Best Project at RTPI South West Awards

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This is Gravity Ltd is proud to share that the Gravity ‘Green Bridge‘ has been shortlisted for the ‘Best Project’ award at that the Royal Town Planning Institute South West Awards for Planning Excellence 2023.

The wider Gravity team including Stantec, The Richards Partnership, LDA Design, Ecology Solutions and Alun Griffiths Contractors who worked together to plan and deliver this unique piece of highway infrastructure are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the winners.

The Gravity Green Bridge is up against for the ‘Best Project’ Award:

  • Les Quennevais Skatepark
  • Hall for Cornwall (Truro)
  • Water Lane Smart Grid and Storage Project

The RTPI South West Award ceremony for Winners and Commendations will take place on July 3rd at the Somerset County Cricket Ground in Taunton. All the South West Regional Awards local winning entries will be put forward for the national awards. The national shortlist will be announced on 9 October. 

Further information

  • Tickets for the July 3rd can be found here.
  • Read the RTPI South West Awards press release here.
  • Click here to watch the ‘Green Bridge’ and ‘Enterprise Way’ road scheme come to life.

Gravity awards Feritech Limited with FSB South West 2023 Sustainability Award

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Gravity Programme Director, Paul Lowndes, was in attendance at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) South West Awards 2023, hosted on March 1st in Western-Super-Mare.

The awards recognise and celebrate the best and brightest businesses within the region, for the second year running Gravity Smart Campus has sponsored, judged, and awarded the region’s FSB ‘Sustainability Award’.

Paul Lowndes was tasked with judging for the ‘Sustainability Award’, this year he decided to award it to ‘Feritech Limited, a Cornwall-based engineering and technology company for their holistic approach to the development of their £3m purpose-built Innovation Center.

Paul Lowdnes, Gravity Progarmme Director comments:

The entries received for the FSB Sustainability Award were all of a high standard. However, the Feritech entry was the most comprehensive. They have taken a radical approach to environmental sustainability in their new £3m purpose-built facility including rainwater harvesting, solar roof and battery storage, air source heat pumps, tree planting and many other initiatives.

They have also started to create a woodland area for their local community. In addition, they have seen significant business growth and expanded their team, including an apprentice scheme to “grow their own” engineers. Also, their commitment to sharing .25% of turnover to help fund local community and school projects is exemplary.

Feritech will proceed to represent the South West in the national final of these awards.

Click here for more information on the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and their awards

Gravity Link Road shortlisted for ICE South West Civil Engineering Award 2022

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Gravity-Link-Road-shortlisted-for-ICE-South-West-Civil-Engineering-Award-2022

An important road that connects a major development in the South West to the A39, M5 and wider UK motorway network has been shortlisted for an Institution of Civil Engineering (ICE) South West Civil Engineering Award. The Gravity Link Road joins the Gravity Smart Campus to the UK motorway network, enhancing the connectivity of the site as an enterprise zone, providing a safe and expedient route for traffic destined for the 616-acre site.  

The link road project team includes This Is Gravity, Stantec as lead designer, project manager and site supervisor, The Richards Partnership as landscape architect, and Griffiths as contractor. The project consisted of a 1.6km single carriageway, two roundabouts, a Green Bridge, on-site cut-fill balance, four attenuation/infiltration basins, visual screening/acoustic bund, the provision of enhanced right of way, and circa 5,000 proposed trees. The road was officially opened in October 2021 and has been named as ‘Enterprise Way’.

Various link road alignment options had been considered and appraised, focusing on carbon footprint, visual, social, ecological, archaeological, traffic impacts, safety, flooding, and cost. The completed project is an example of one that shows a commitment to sustainability, climate resilience and carbon reduction.

Features include material re-use from both the nearby M5 J25 works and the Gravity main site, with no material being exported. Recycled plastic crates were used to construct an attenuation tank. Solar-powered lighting was installed for permanent road signage and solar-powered bollards – removing the need for cables, and trenching.

The scheme fully incorporated blue/green infrastructure through the four attenuation/infiltration basins on site, promoting sustainable management of water, and all basins incorporated soft landscaping to provide significant biodiversity gain. The Green Bridge is the first to be installed in Somerset and provides a bridleway over the new link road and linking communities to the wider public rights of way. The acoustic/visual screening bund consists of a 900m long green retaining wall, which shields nearby residents to visual and noise impacts as well as complimenting the rural aesthetic. Regular air quality and noise monitoring at the local primary school has helped to ensure construction did not adversely affect the local environment. The landscaping will result in over 5000 trees being planted, 2,600m of hedgerows and 5.68Ha of meadow grassland providing both biodiversity gain and carbon sequestration.

The opening of the road has removed through traffic from the village of Puriton, creating a safer village, a more pleasant public environment, and improving air quality. The engagement carried out prior to, and through construction, ensured the local community was continually updated on progress.  

For Gravity Smart Campus, the benefits of the link road will be significant in attracting large-scale innovative companies and creating an environment to host an international occupier to help the UK decarbonise the transport sector. New occupiers have the flexibility to operate within the consented development of to 1.1million sq. m, creating up to 7,500 jobs.

Richard Smith, Senior Associate, at Stantec, said: “We’re thrilled that Gravity Link Road has been shortlisted for this award. The link road is a brilliant example of collaboration between the partners, and the local community, to keep their welfare and the environment in mind at every stage of design and construction.”

Claire Pearce, Director, Planning & Economic Development, at This Is Gravity Ltd, said: “Gravity set out our ambition to deliver the link road and ensure strategic connectivity between the enterprise zone site and the A39/ M5 to accelerate a new era of clean and inclusive growth in the UK, at the heart of the South West. We are grateful to partners and stakeholders in the Gravity delivery group for their support to completing the road as an integral part of our transport strategy”.

Paul Lowndes, Programme Director at This is Gravity added: “The Link Road construction epitomizes Gravity’s commitment to ‘the 4Rs – Recover, Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse’ with use of 6c material crushed from concrete in the free-draining sub-base and re-use of naturally occurring subsoil material in the acoustic/visual screening bund, all won from the site remediation and delivered free of charge to Griffiths. I would like to extend our thanks to the Stantec, Griffiths and Richards Partnership as the Gravity link road team for an exceptional job in the engineering design, and delivery phases.”

Simon Dunn, Pre-Construction Director at Griffiths, said: “Griffiths is proud to be part of the Gravity project, a project that showcases what can be achieved through true collaboration. From Day 1 the vision was clear, that sustainability and communities were at the heart of the project and the team worked hard to exceed all expectations. This is a blueprint for what collaboration can achieve in terms of enhancing our environment for future generations.” The winners of the ICE South West Civil Engineering Awards 2022 will be announced at a ceremony on 15 September. Members and non-members of the ICE can choose their favourite project in the People’s Choice Awards – vote here

About Stantec

Communities are fundamental. Whether around the corner or across the globe, they provide a foundation, a sense of place and of belonging. That’s why at Stantec, we always design with community in mind.

We care about the communities we serve—because they’re our communities too. This allows us to assess what’s needed and connect our expertise, to appreciate nuances and envision what’s never been considered, to bring together diverse perspectives so we can collaborate toward a shared success.

We’re designers, engineers, scientists, and project managers, innovating together at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships. Balancing these priorities results in projects that advance the quality of life in communities across the globe.

Stantec trades on the TSX and the NYSE under the symbol STN.

Media Contact                                               

Alicia de Haldevang, Stantec Media Relations                                    Alicia.dehaldevang@stantec.com

Why the West is Best

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why west is best

OK, OK, we didn’t just invent that phrase, but we too want to shout out why we think that the West is Best for business.  Yes, we are biased but there are some strong reasons for saying that.

8 in fact.

Post Brexit and in a post Covid world, we’ve all seen plenty of column inches dedicated to the fact that we have all been busy moving house and taking advantage of the glorious countryside that there is away from the capital and other city centres.  But business too is also busy re-evaluating the need to be city centric and thinking about changing work patterns.

Here are our reasons to consider the South West as a place to work

How Far is Far?

The South West is very well connected.  The region is well connected to the national motorway network via the M5 and M4 motorways. 

In the unlikely event you do need to go back to London, train journeys from Bristol to the capital take a little over 2 hours.  Fast.

The deep water Port of Bristol is one of the fastest growing ports in the UK right now and is currently building a £600m deep sea container terminal (DSCT) at Avonmouth Dock.

The region is served by 3 airports. But why would you leave? Seriously.

It’s all a question of degree

Further education and in particular colleges and universities of serious international worth are to be found in the South West. 

Bridgwater & Taunton College is a world class college of further and higher education. It is the principal delivery arm of the southern hub of the National College for Nuclear and houses the University Centre Somerset. 

Bristol, Bath and Exeter all ranked higher than 15th by The Times and Sunday Times as the best universities in the UK. No small accolade.

The area is literally teaming with young enthusiastic talent. Go figure.

You’re already here

The South West is not just for holidays, although we know why it’s one of the most popular visitor destinations. In research undertaken by leading property agents, JLL, our worlds have been turned upside down and home is now everything. Where we live matters.

With technology as the great enabler, we’ve moved ourselves and found our forever place, and the chances are you have already moved to the great South West.

Frome, Somerset, ranked 6th in the Sunday Times Best Places to Live poll this year and is it any wonder. 

As JLL’s report establishes, Bristol is an evergreen location for relocators because of the diverse life and culture that can be found in the city.  The benefits are all clear to see.  We’re just glad so many of you agree.

Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger – The Most Connectivity

Bad end to end connectivity, even in the most rural of areas, are set to become a thing of the past.  Regional and central Government investment is in place to iron out the remaining small pockets of poor connectivity.

The South West also sees dark fibre connectivity as the way forward.  A pre-existing underground infrastructure, unused, lying in wait and deemed unlit—or dark. Another dimension taking connectivity over the horizon and further.

And yes, there is dark fibre in the South West.  Think of unleashing the power.

The Human Touch

In figures from the ONS, the South West region ranks 5th in the country for the highest number of degree educated people of working age.  A busy, well educated, interesting and welcoming workforce.

The region is already home to some well-known regional companies who have grown to be international stars in their own right as well as UK based companies you will have heard of.  The South West has increasingly received inward investment from international companies too.

For example, Accord-UK Ltd.  Based in Barnstaple, Devon, with a turnover in excess of £278m, a headcount of over 658, the pharmaceutical giant is involved in the development, manufacture and distribution of pharmaceutical products to more than 70 countries globally.

Soul in a Bowl

Bring a hearty appetite with you. The South West regional combo of strong agricultural and fishing industries, blended with some high-quality food producers and manufacturers to service internationally world beating restaurants, means there will be no stopping you.

The distance from gate to plate is reduced and of the highest quality. From artisanal to larger concerns, the variety and diversity is endless.  Food in all its glorious forms. Fresh, regional, traceable.  Bring it on.

The Cultural Divide

Move around any part of the region and the culture is literally talking to you.  From a city walking tour of Bristol to see Banksys, to the Tate St Ives, Newlyn School of Art, and Bristol Old Vic, and not forgetting Jane Austen’s historical connections with Bath.

The South West speaks a cultural language that’s distinguished and different. It’s varied, dynamic and diverse.  Feeds the soul…

Bring it Home

And, finally, there’s the exciting new business smart campus This is Gravity. 

  • Close to the M5
  • Offering dark fibre connectivity
  • Quick access to the deep water Port of Bristol and 3 airports
  • A new railway spur
  • A well educated, eager population
  • Endless possibilities in terms of property design, timing, ownership and occupation

A green, sustainable campus with 616 acres to provide an environmentally conscious business scope to work and live in harmony with the local environment and also foray into the region to enjoy the many unique features the South West has to offer.

Pioneering ‘West Coast’ (UK) – clustering adds more value

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Silicon Valley, the high-tech hub of the Bay Area in California, is not just a place – it is a brand synonymous with innovation. Countless household tech companies have been founded, ballooned in size and sold for eye-watering sums of money within its geography.

While it benefited from a number of factors, including an impressive stack  of venture capital in its early days a huge influence on its exponential growth is the clustering effect of having innovative firms like Google, Facebook and Hewlett Packard all located within a stone’s throw of each other. Add in the fact that Stanford University provides a host of students emerging with ideas for scale-ups, and you have a thriving circular economy that has influenced our world for decades.

There is absolutely no reason why the West Coast of the UK cannot replicate Silicon Valley’s success up and down the breadth of the country if we too embrace the power of clustering.

Crucially, clustering could also help the UK government deliver on its levelling-up agenda, especially in the burgeoning knowledge economy.

Currently, the Oxford-Cambridge Arc feeds and accelerates the growth of many of these UK based firms, thanks in part to having world-leading research universities on their doorsteps. For example, in Cambridge, life sciences and deep tech are the dominant sectors across the campuses, and in Oxford, life sciences, physical sciences, energy, space, deep tech, environmental and autonomous engineering exist in clusters across the city’s various campuses. Milton Keynes is renowned for its focus on advanced manufacturing and financial or Fintech software.

But Oxford and Cambridge are far from the only areas in the UK which have world-class education institutions nearby that companies could look to attract talent from, or venture capitalists could look to find scale-up business ideas from.

The South-West with Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff universities is perfectly positioned to foster innovation and accelerate growth as we enter a new era of “grow back better”. 

Sites like Gravity, a new 616-acre development campus near Bridgwater, are fertile ground for startups; ideally located and connected with road and rail, accessible and attractive to university graduates. Designed to offer not only sustainable and clean commercial space but flexible hub campus settings so that knowledge sharing can happen and conducive to “live, work, play” lifestyle in a low carbon and sustainable way.

We stand on the threshold of a new cleaner and greener future where vehicle electrification, the digital agenda and a newly developed need for work/life balance are likely to become the key driver in our new economic future. But this future needs to be inclusive and break down old pre-conceptions about the UK’s work force geography.

For instance, London was a third more productive than the rest of the UK in 2018. That’s far too deep a divide and implies the wealth being produced by this country is not being shared equally. Imagine instead if we grow to a future where every region becomes its own industrial and commercial eco system. Clustering can help us do just that,

A recent Centre for Cities report recommended that if the government wants to actually level-up the UK, then economically weaker performing cities need to become clusters of high-value activities.

That’s exactly what sites like Gravity are aiming to do – attract innovative companies to areas that have had their potential to host world-class industry ignored for far too long.

If we want to level-up, then we need to create many more clusters across the country then we need to build more smart campus sites, like Gravity, with the infrastructure and proximity to a talented workforce to conduct research, spark innovation, and bring products to market.

The Challenge for a West Coast- UK  Cluster

The challenge is to find a location that accommodates flexibility and understands the inherent needs tech companies require to flourish, and simultaneously compete on the world stage, this is currently being met at Gravity.

Gravity is now talking to occupiers about their future commercial property needs in this exciting and unique proposition to help build a Silicon Somerset cluster in a sustainable and collaborative environment with all the commercial advantages of excellent infrastructure too.

The support for freeport status to boost Bristol’s global gateway continues to build

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Gravity is proud to be part of a South West Business Insider article detailing the campaign to bring at least one of the government’s proposed freeports to the South West.

The return of a freeport system is designed to encourage economic growth through international trade by offering exemptions to

Our Director – Planning and Economic Development, Claire Pearce gave Gravity’s full support to the West of England proposition.

We’re 100 percent behind the West of England proposition because of our proximity to Bristol Port, but also its access to rail, at the moment as the marshalling port for Hinkley Point C. We see huge potential, in the post-Brexit context for Gravity to offer what is quite an exceptional site, in combination with the proximity of Bristol Port. It’s quite a unique proposition for the UK – to provide scale and advanced manufacturing facilities that can bring in that new era of clean economic growth.”

Claire Pearce

Read the full article below.

South West Business Insider p17-19 Agenda FreeportsDownload

Martin Bellamy: Joins Real Estate Live UK’s South West panel

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Gravity Chairman, Martin Bellamy, will be joining the Keynote South West panel at the upcoming ‘Real Estate Live UK‘ online conference, taking place 9th October.

The discussion ‘Steering Growth to the South West‘ will ask incisive questions around the key drivers of growth for the South West and evaluate the successful implementation of initaives designed to stimulate investment in the region.

Across the UK we have the Northern Powerhouse, the Midlands Engine, and the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, but what is the combined pull and what are the key drivers of growth for the South West? Over recent years there have been initiatives in place to stimulate investment across the region – how successful have these been, where is the South West seeing significant development, and which sectors are predicted to expand its economy?

To book tickets for this event click here.

Step back in time with stories from ROF 37

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SOMERSET 20 JULY – Gravity is proud to share ‘ROF 37‘ a project that captures the unique industrial heritage of our site and shares never-before-heard stories of the former Royal Ordnance Factory – Bridgwater.

The South West Heritage Trust was commissioned by Sedgemoor District Council to produce the short film. Late last year the public was invited to share their memories at two Community Heritage Days held at the 37 Club. More than 20 former employees were interviewed by Somerset Film. The scope of the project included the recording of documents, photographs and memorabilia.

Click here to view the full South West Heritage Trust press release.

Watch the short film below.

About Gravity

Gravity, the UK’s first commercial smart campus, is the blueprint for a smarter, cleaner future – faster. It will deliver a new era of possibility by supporting companies making a difference socially, economically and environmentally, driving the UK’s shift to growing through a cleaner economy.

With direct access to the M5 and accessible by rail, air and sea, the site offers over 635 acres for the creation of millions of sq ft of scalable, flexible and shared working space.

Multinationals and start-ups will benefit from the excellent connectivity and speed of build out Gravity offers. By attracting today’s giants and tomorrow’s unicorns, there will be significant opportunities for collaboration.

With its on-site water provision, renewable and low carbon energy infrastructure and building energy management, dark fibre, excellent transport links, accessible talent pool and knowledge economy including four top-tier universities close by, Gravity provides occupiers with the ability to build, expand, and develop faster and efficiently.

About South West Heritage Trust

The South West Heritage Trust is an independent charity committed to protecting and celebrating Somerset and Devon’s rich heritage. As well as the widely-praised Museum of Somerset and the redeveloped Somerset Rural Life Museum, in Glastonbury, the Trust manages state-of-the-art facilities in Taunton and Exeter to care for the extraordinary archive collections of the two counties. The Trust also provides essential advice about the historic environment and manages historic sites. Visit swheritage.org.uk   

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