New Britishvolt owner Recharge Industries says its plans for a North East gigaplant will be ‘a huge project for a long period of time’.
The Australian company completed the acquisition of Britishvolt out of administration earlier this month, reviving ambitions for a £3.8bn electric vehicle battery plant in Cambois which had lain in tatters following the collapse of the start up in January, due to lack of funding. Now David A. Collard, founder and chief executive of Recharge Industries’ owner Scale Facilitation, has outlined his bold vision for the region to North East business leaders, describing how the factory near Blyth could become an international market leader.
Mr Collard took part in a roundtable event hosted by the North East England Chamber of Commerce, centred around research and development, partnership opportunities, recruitment and skills, regional regeneration and business culture. He said: “This will be a huge project for a long period of time, as energy transition is a growth market and it is not going to change. The UK has the potential to, and could become, the global experts in this field.
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“The North East England Chamber of Commerce and the business community are a very important part of this. It’s vital that we have a strong regional support base and there are lots of global opportunity partnerships in this region. We need local, national and international partners to compete globally, and I want to see more local people and businesses involved in contracts.”
The Britishvolt brand name will remain and the business will initially focusing on batteries for energy storage. It is hoped the gigafactory will create 8,000 jobs on site and in its supply chain, with work due to start in six to 12 months.
Highlighting the potential for the region, Mr Collard added: “The North East is building a reputation for world-class manufacturing. This project puts the spotlight on the region and is a real opportunity to shine and attract significant investment that the region really needs for the future.
"From a skills point of view, many of the businesses here today may feel we are all fishing from same pond, so it is important that we work together to attract more talent to the region. This is a massive opportunity to establish an eco-system that attracts talent and puts skills where we really need them.”
John McCabe, chief executive of the Chamber, said: “This is a huge opportunity for the North East. This transformative project has the potential to place the North East, and the UK, at the front of battery manufacturing. As well as creating thousands of jobs, it’s an opportunity to build a supply chain for other businesses in the region to play their part in our economic renewal.
“The North East has an incredibly skilled workforce and local partners, including the Chamber, are very eager to provide support for the project. These are incredibly exciting times for our region.”
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