- Global battery business Agratas is this week kicking off the first of five community engagement events for local residents in Somerset
- Events for neighbouring residents in Puriton and Woolavington, held in partnership with the Parish Councils, start on Saturday 27 April and continue into next week
- Students and residents also invited to join Agratas team and CEO, Tom Flack, at Bridgwater & Taunton College on 30 April
UK, 24 April 2024: Agratas, Tata’s global battery business is holding its first community events with local residents in Somerset, inviting everyone who lives locally to meet the team behind Britain’s biggest battery cell manufacturing facility.
As part of its community-first approach, Agratas is inviting the entire local community, council members, and students to five events held over four days (detailed below).
Attendees will have the chance to hear about the company’s plans for the state-of-the-art facility, ask questions, share feedback, and understand more about what will happen over the next few years as the site starts to take shape.
The events culminate with the chance for residents and Bridgwater & Taunton College students to hear directly from CEO Tom Flack, and specialists in Agratas’ Strategy, R&D, Sustainability and Operations teams, about the company’s cutting-edge battery technologies and the jobs that will be created locally.*
| Date and time | Location |
|---|---|
| 10am – 12noon, Saturday 27 April | Bitham Walk Hall, Woolavington |
| 2.30pm – 4.30pm, Saturday 27 April | Puriton Sports Centre |
| *5pm – 8pm, Tuesday 30 April | Bridgwater and Taunton College |
| 6pm – 8pm, Wednesday 1 May | Puriton Village Hall |
| 6pm – 8pm, Thursday 2 May | Bitham Walk Hall, Woolavington |
Agratas is working closely with Bridgwater & Taunton College and other local and regional partners including Somerset Council to design bespoke education and training programmes in the region and deliver local jobs for local people. Across all five events, residents interested in job opportunities can hear more about this and meet the Agratas team to learn about the diverse range of opportunities to work in the battery sector.
The facility itself will create up to 4,000 high-skilled green tech jobs in the area, with thousands more expected to be created in the UK supply chain.
Tom Flack, CEO, Agratas, said: “We’ve received a warm welcome since announcing that we’ll be making Somerset our home. We know everyone is keen to hear more about our plans to get going onsite, the types of jobs that will be created and when those opportunities will start to be available.
The whole team is looking forward to engaging with students and Somerset residents, and to building a long-term partnership that will turn this region into an advanced manufacturing centre of excellence, fit for the future.”
These events follow confirmation in February by Agratas that it will build a new battery cell manufacturing facility at the Gravity Smart Campus near Bridgwater, Somerset. Phased construction works will begin later this year.
About Agratas
Agratas is a global battery business within the Tata Group. We design, develop and manufacture high-quality, high-performance, sustainable battery solutions for multiple applications to match our customers’ requirements.
Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Agra’, the world’s oldest language, our name stands for leadership and moving forward. Combined with ‘Gravitas’, it reflects our ambition to be purpose driven, pioneering power for future generations.
We have entered our industrialisation phase, building world-class gigafactories in India and the UK, and unlocking green growth opportunities for global customers in the mobility and energy sectors.
Our sustainability-first approach is accelerating the global transition to net zero. Our facilities are designed to be powered by clean sources of electricity, including purpose-built renewable energy plants, to support our goal of 100% clean power across all our operations. Using a circular design mindset, we adopt resource efficient processes, to reuse, recycle and recover materials back into production, delivering a sophisticated circular economy ecosystem. We are committed to developing the next generation of battery technologies.
Our R&D Innovation Hubs in India and the UK are empowered to accelerate technological breakthroughs across our entire value chain, working in partnership with leading universities and research institutions to deliver cleaner, greener, more sustainable batteries for our customers. Together, we will pioneer the innovative battery solutions of the future.
Media enquiries
press@agratas.net