Consultancy appointed to support construction of £4bn UK battery plant

Turner & Townsend will work with Tata Group’s battery business Agratas on the plant, providing cost management and project management services for site enabling works and procurement of the design team.

Indian conglomerate Tata announced last month that it would build the plant off the M5 motorway near Bridgwater in Somerset, after securing £500 million (US$634.7 million) in UK government subsidies.

Construction will take place on a site that was formerly home to a factory that produced high explosives for the military.

Preliminary work at the site has already started, ahead of the factory entering production in 2026, providing batteries to Tata Motors and Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover.

Chris Sargent, managing director, real estate, at Turner & Townsend said, “Strengthening our global battery capability, this appointment brings together our expertise from our Birmingham, Bristol and Newcastle teams and is supported by our UK-wide industrial and manufacturing experts who share collective knowledge in building gigafactories throughout the UK and Europe. We are hugely excited about helping to deliver such a significant project which will power the country’s transition to electric mobility.

Joe Hibbert, vice president, capital projects at Agratas added: “Our multi-billion-pound investment in our facility in Somerset is one of the most significant construction projects in the European battery sector, creating thousands of jobs during construction and into operation.

“We are pleased to have Turner & Townsend onboard to support our industrialisation programme. They bring innovative digital tools and a wealth of experience in this sector to aid our delivery.”