Britishvolt 'fully committed' to gigaplant reassurance after online concerns

Britishvolt has issued a statement to reassure the community after concerns were raised on a local social media page that there was no activity happening at the site in Cambois and machines were being taken away.

Last month, the company received confirmation from the UK Government that it is to receive £100million in funding from the Automotive Transformation Fund.

It does also say that its development programme “has been designed flexibly to enable us to reschedule activity” where required.

The gigaplant is intended to create more than 3,000 skilled direct jobs on-site at full production and a further 5,000-plus in the wider supplier chains.

A Britishvolt spokesman said: “Britishvolt remains fully committed to constructing the UK’s premier battery cell gigaplant in Northumberland and we intend Phase One production to begin mid-decade.

“Importantly, the UK Government has shown its confidence in the project with the recent confirmation of Automotive Transformation Fund support for the gigaplant, a project that will create the jobs and industry of the future.

“Work is progressing in line with our plans and over the next few months we will be transporting more than 30,000 tonnes of stone onto site as part of the groundworks phase.

“Battery technology continues to evolve at a highly dynamic pace and through our growing roster of industry and academic partnerships, we are constantly reviewing how this will impact our Northumberland gigaplant.

“Our capital works phased development programme has been designed flexibly to enable us to reschedule activity to critically evaluate core design and build elements, optimising the build schedule to improve efficiency and optimise synergies across our phases, as well as to understand and mitigate the consequences of rising material prices to ensure our new facility is geared up to become the global leader in battery manufacturing excellence.”

The company has previously outlined why it chose the site in Cambois, saying on its website: ‘The abundance of renewable energy at our premier gigasite located in Northumberland, and access to a rail head and deep-port, mean that we can lower the carbon footprint of the battery manufacturing process.’