Two Years of Temporary Work at the Bridgwater Site

Somerset Gigafactory Construction Runs Two Years Without a Contract

Agratas terminated its main contractor on the Bridgwater battery plant with three weeks’ notice after more than two years of work conducted under temporary letters of authority. Sir Robert McAlpine billed £400 million during that period without ever securing a formal agreement. The project now faces an estimated £500 million cost overrun on an £800 million construction budget.

Tata announced the facility in 2023 with a 2026 production target. That date shifted to 2027, then to an internal January 2028 milestone that internal assessments now expect to miss. Equipment procurement for a critical substation has not begun, despite lead times of two years or more. A required ring road remains unstarted and the main building itself lags on multiple milestones.

Contractor Turnover and Budget Pressures

TClarke exited the project in March. Agratas has now replaced Sir Robert McAlpine with Tonroe Group Ltd, a Buckinghamshire firm whose primary experience lies in data centres. Several senior Agratas staff have also left, including the head of process engineering and the vice-president of global manufacturing engineering.

The cost mismatch stems from attempts to align UK spending with Agratas’s Indian operations. Contractors reported pressure to meet targets they regarded as unrealistic. The new contractor must now master complex requirements for electrolyte handling and one of Europe’s largest clean rooms while absorbing work already performed under ad hoc arrangements.

Exposure for Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover plans to source cells from the Somerset plant for its electric models. Production delays would complicate compliance with the ZEV mandate, under which the company already harbours doubts about meeting rising targets. Executives have warned of potential fines and have supported government moves to relax the mandate.

The plant represents only the second UK gigafactory. Its delivery shortfalls directly affect the domestic automotive sector’s shift away from internal combustion engines. Government subsidy of £380 million has not altered the pattern of missed deadlines and incomplete contracting.

These execution failures recur across major UK infrastructure projects regardless of the party in office. Promised industrial capacity repeatedly fails to materialise on schedule or within budget, leaving manufacturers exposed to external supply risks and regulatory penalties.