Turner & Townsend has been selected to support Agratas, a global battery business within the Tata Group, with the construction of its new UK battery manufacturing facility in Somerset.

The site's establishment is the result of a £4bn investment by Tata Group, of which Agratas is a wholly owned subsidiary.

With production set to commence in 2026, the facility will have a capacity of 40GWh of cells per year and is expected to provide almost half of the batteries needed by the UK’s automotive industry by 2030, according to estimates from battery research group The Faraday Institution.

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The new gigafactory will also support over 4,000 new high-skilled, green tech jobs locally in Somerset, with thousands more expected to be created in the UK supply chain. Plus, it will see the employment of innovative technologies and efficient processes, like battery recycling, to recover and reuse all the original raw materials to deliver a truly circular economy ecosystem.

Chris Sargent, Managing Director, Real Estate, said: "This brand new gigafactory stands the country in good stead to become an industry leader in the electric car market, supporting the decarbonisation of our transport at home and abroad. The investment committed by Tata Group and supported by the UK Government is fantastic news for our national and local economy, creating thousands of jobs in Somerset and building skills for the long term."