At ICE and SWIP’s Enabling Better Infrastructure event in June, Michael O’Neil, Director of Civil Engineering at Stantec, and Nick Cooper, Community Engagement Manager for Agratas, lifted the veil on one of Somerset’s most innovative projects.
The GravitySmart Campus, based in Bridgwater, is set to extend the South West’s reputation of forward-thinking tech in an exciting combination of a smart commercial campus, and one of the Europe’s largest gigafactories.
History
The Gravity site has a long history of infrastructure. Having been the site of ROF Bridgwater managed by BAE Systems from 1941 to 2008, the site was acquired in 2017 by Salamanca Group, who drove the development plans for the smart campus. Since then, Tata Group subsidiary, Agratas, bought part of the site in 2024 to develop a battery cell manufacturing facility.
Planning route
Consent for the site has been granted under an LDO – a new planning tool which is:
- Streamlined to target quick and efficient delivery
- Frontloaded in terms of planning requirements – de-risking and providing certainty for markets by emphasising viability
- Marketable: Promoting public and private collaboration with a project that can do its own marketing.
The Gravity Smart Campus LDO includes a wide range of approved uses, including:
- Advanced manufacturing
- Supporting employment uses including R&D, storage and distribution, industrial processes and working areas
- Supporting amenities including a nursery, hotel and conference centre, sports and leisure facilities, a café, a community space, and various other employment.
Progress to date
Sir Robert McAlpine has been appointed to deliver Agratas Building One and significant ground clearance and piling has taken place recently, a process which achieved significant reuse of existing materials onsite. A new dedicated site entrance is now open, which will improve site access and reduce construction traffic, and offices and welfare facilities have been installed to support growing on-site teams. Infrastructure works – drainage and roads, for example – are well underway and main construction works start this year, which will involve:
- Building One – work starts in June
- Phase One of the Ring Road to serve the site starts in the Autumn
Main construction is due to be complete by 2028 – ushering in a new era of sustainable and collaborative working next decade.
For more on some of the South West’s most important projects, check out:
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