Stantec Archives

Somerset Lord Lieutenancy visits Gravity Smart Campus

13th September 202311th September 2023 by Rob Stevens

SOMERSET 6 September – The Gravity Smart Campus was pleased to welcome Somerset’s Lord Lieutenant, Mohammed Saddiq, Vice-Lord Lieutenant, Edward (Ted) Allen and Deputy Lieutenants Denis Burn and Martin Thatcher on their fact-finding visit to Gravity.

The Gravity team, accompanied by representatives from Stantec, Bridgwater & Taunton College and Bridgwater United Sports Community Trust welcomed the Lord Lieutenant before providing strategic updates on the progress made on site to date as well as a guided tour of the 616-acre Enterprise Zone.

Conversations on sustainability, workforce development, social value initiatives and legacy opportunities beyond Hinkley Point C were at the forefront of the visit. Gravity’s low-carbon journey was highlighted by its material management strategy which prioritises re-use, recycling and re-purposing which has significantly reduced the requirement of imported quarried stone.

Andy Berry & Simon Brewer from Bridgwater & Taunton College discussed the college’s infrastructure and their role in the strategic development of new education pathways that would lead local students into jobs at Gravity.

The Lord Lieutenant was involved in a live demonstration of the huge popular Gravity Sphero initiative from Bridgwater United Community Sports Trust, which is has engaged with over 500 local young people since its launch in 2022. This was followed by an introduction into Stantec’s STEM outreach programme which uses Gravity ‘Green Bridge’ as an example to engage children across the key stages about the principles of engineering.

Somerset Larder was in attendance, demonstrating the value of legacy business opportunities beyond Hinkley Point C.

Gravity Director – Planning & Economic Development Claire Pearce commented: “The team was thrilled with the opportunity to host the Somerset Lord Lieutenancy; it was a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of work that has been undertaken in preparing Gravity to attract large-scale occupiers and specifically showcase the social value initiatives underway in collaboration with our local stakeholders and communities.

We would like to thank the Somerset Lieutenancy for taking the time to visit our site and our consultants and partners who are committed to delivering our respective ESG ambitions on the ground and who made the visit such a success.”

Somerset Lord Lieutenant, Mohammed Saddiq commented: “A wonderful visit that left me inspired and informed about the remarkable sustainability ambitions for the Gravity site. The visit reinforced my belief in the power of sustainable initiatives and their potential to help grow the local economy.”

About Somerset Lord Lieutenancy

The Lord-Lieutenant and all Deputies are volunteers and the titles are honorary. Aside from royal duties, Lord-Lieutenants promote and encourage voluntary and charitable organisations and take an interest in the business, urban and rural and social life of the county. They have wide discretion in how they carry out their tasks and also in those they choose to undertake.

As the sovereign’s representative in his or her area, the Lord-Lieutenant remains non-political and does not hold office in any political party. It is their foremost duty to uphold the dignity of the Crown. In so doing, they seek to promote a spirit of co-operation and good atmosphere by supporting voluntary and benevolent organisations and by the interest they take in all aspects of business and social life of their counties.

About Gravity

Gravity will be the UK’s first commercial smart campus and a blueprint for a ‘cleaner’, smarter future. It aims to attract the world’s most innovative companies working in the ‘clean growth’ sectors.

Expected to create up to 7,500 jobs, the 616-acre Enterprise Zone will be designed to shape connections between people and the places in which they work, supporting a culture of innovation and wellbeing. It will include diverse, flexible workspaces and resilient technologies along with enhanced transport links to, and within, the surrounding area.

Gravity Smart Campus honoured at the Planning Awards 2023

13th June 2023 by Rob Stevens

The Gravity Smart Campus, a 616-acre enterprise zone expected to generate up to 7,500 jobs, has been recognised at the 2023 National Planning Awards. The awarding ceremony, in its ninth year, was hosted at the renowned IET Savoy Place on June 8^th.

This is Gravity Ltd, supported by consultants Stantec and the wider team received a Highly Commended commendation for the Gravity Local Development Order (LDO) under two critical categories:

Planning Permission of the Year Award
Promoting Economic Growth Award

These commendations highlighted the design, development of the planning application, and the successful adoption of the Gravity LDO, enabling strategic outcomes for the UK as well as local communities.

The LDO serves as a potent marketing instrument, attracting international inward investment and high-paying jobs, new supply chain opportunities, all underpinned with world-class training and education. Moreover, the adaptive planning framework facilitates the delivery of custom occupier requirements within set strategic and flexible parameters.

This is Gravity also extended heartfelt congratulations to Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP for their distinguished Planning Award accomplishments. The firm clinched the ‘Planning Law Firm of the Year Award’, a testament to their outstanding legal contributions to the Gravity LDO and Compulsory Purchase Order, as well as other significant planning projects for other clients.

The judges commented, “…The scope of legal work and the complexities involved across these high-profile projects is genuinely astounding.”

Claire Pearce, This is Gravity’s Director – Planning & Economic Development, said, “We are delighted to have received ‘Highly Commended’ recognition from the Planning Awards 2023 in these two vital categories, especially amidst such strong competition. This is Gravity wish to extend sincere thanks to all who played a role in the development and adoption of the Gravity LDO. The process required vision, leadership, robust evidence, innovated assessment tools and multi-disciplinary team work to shape solutions to regenerate and transform a contaminated site into a transformational opportunity”.

We strongly believe that the major, international, advanced manufacturers we are currently engaging with, would be less likely to establish their operations at Gravity in the South West of the UK, had it not been for the adoption of the Gravity LDO by the progressive local authority, the former Sedgemoor District Council (now Somerset Council).”

About Gravity

Gravity Link Road receives new build prize at ICE South West Civil Engineering Awards

23rd January 202322nd December 2022 by Rob Stevens

The Gravity Link Road off Junction 23 of the M5, has won the New Build Project over £8 million category at the ICE South West Civil Engineering Awards. The awards, held by the Institution of Civil Engineers, showcase the collective and individual achievements of civil engineering in the region.

The scheme, designed in partnership with Stantec – global leaders in sustainable design and engineering, contractors Alun Griffiths and landscape architects, The Richards Partnership, provides a gateway to the state-of-the-art Gravity smart campus. This site is a 616-acre commercial innovation campus expected to create up to 7,500 jobs.

Gravity’s rural location adjacent to existing villages meant that local infrastructure wasn’t supportive for access to the innovation campus – through construction or into operation. Through consultation, the project team identified the need to retain public rights of way, enhance the local setting, and mitigate the effects of any construction to the local community.

In response to these challenges, Stantec and the wider team designed a new link road, with two roundabouts and a green bridge which has connected the site to the A39 and M5 Junction 23. The green bridge is the first of its kind in the region and is designed to blend into the prevailing topography to minimise its visual impact. The bridge also enhances local walking and equestrian routes.

The landscaping work included the incorporation of new permanent water bodies and around 5,000 new trees, resulting in a biodiversity net gain for the site. Throughout the project, the scheme reused more than 125,000m3 of material from the works, which meant that no material waste was taken off the site.

Commenting on the award win, Richard Smith, Senior Associate, at Stantec said: “With any project we approach at Stantec, sustainability, climate resilience and a commitment to carbon reduction are put front and centre of our plan. At the same time, we need to make sure that we minimise disruption, and that the resulting infrastructure has a positive impact on the area and the surrounding communities. The opening of the road has removed through traffic from the village of Puriton, creating a safer village, improving air quality, and creating a more pleasant public environment.

“The engagement carried out prior to, and through construction, ensured the local community were continually updated on progress. We’re delighted that this link road project has won this award, and is now helping provide positive, sustainable access to a nationally important location which is providing fantastic benefits for the region. Congratulations to everyone involved.”

Paul Lowndes, Programme Director at This is Gravity commented “This win belongs to the whole team and is thoroughly deserved. The Gravity team is proud of the collaboration which enables us to create award-winning, world-class infrastructure that will benefit local communities and attracts large-scale operators to Gravity.

“Our ongoing commitment to Gravity’s 4R’s (Recover, Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse) Strategy, that of ensuring that no material unnecessarily becomes landfill, is critical to Gravity’s mission to create a low-carbon environment that promotes clean growth opportunities through site construction and operation.”

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

28th June 202223rd June 2022 by Rob Stevens

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

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Gravity Smart Campus honoured at the Planning Awards 2023

Gravity Link Road receives new build prize at ICE South West Civil Engineering Awards

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

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