New Britishvolt owner ‘can’t wait’ to resume work on £3.8bn gigafactory

Construction looks set to restart on a £3.8bn vehicle-battery factory in Northumberland now its bankrupt developer, Britishvolt, has been acquired by Australia-headquartered Recharge Industries.

David Collard, chief executive of Recharge’s parent company Scale Facilitation, said in a statement: “Our [acquisition] proposal combined our financial, commercial, technology and manufacturing capabilities with a highly credible plan to put boots and equipment on the ground quickly.”

“We can’t wait to get started and want to start as soon as possible,” he added.

Collard subsequently told the BBC that the £3.8bn gigafactory site in Cambois near Blyth is “shovel ready” – although he added that work may not start for another six to 12 months.

Despite Collard’s indications that he wants work to resume rapidly, and a reference in the Recharge statement to “a number of significant customer agreements in place”, the company has declined to say whether contractor ISG would resume its work on the site.

“We’re not giving any further information on the deal at the moment – we’ll provide further details over the coming weeks and months,” a company spokesperson told Construction News.

Britishvolt – which filed for administration on 17 January after months of financial troubles – appointed ISG in December 2020 to design and build the gigafactory on a 95-hectare brownfield site, but the contractor paused work in August 2022 citing design changes.

ISG has previously said that it was keen to engage with the new owners of the site so that work can resume. CN approached the company for further comment.