Gigafactory is fully charged with steel

Expected to manufacture batteries for 100,000 vehicles annually, AESC UK’s Sunderland gigafactory is housed within a huge steel frame covering an area equivalent to 23 football pitches.

The project forms part of a wider £1 billion partnership between Nissan and Sunderland City Council to create an electric vehicle hub, envisaged as the world’s first EV manufacturing ecosystem.

Set to employ more than 1,000 staff, the factory will utilise 100% carbon neutral energy, aligning with AESC UK’s global sustainability commitments.

Working on behalf of main contractor Wates Construction, Severfield fabricated, supplied and erected a significant tonnage of both hot and cold-rolled steelwork for the main frame and its associated structures. 

According to Wates, the race to deliver the UK’s first gigafactory meant there was no blueprint for this project: “They needed a partner of choice, and Severfield stepped in.”

The challenges around a facility of this nature included a client who needed to procure materials as late as possible in order to incorporate the latest technologies.

“Due to the nature of the product and the ever-changing technology required in battery manufacture, our main challenge was managing and incorporating the constant changes from both the process design and the related mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP),” says Severfield project manager James Massheder.

With around 14,000km of mains cabling within the building, the installation of the MEP was initially going to require a major installation programme.

However, an innovative approach was used, whereby 1,600 steel frames were manufactured offsite, fitted with the required MEP and then delivered to the project to
be installed along with the main frame’s steelwork.

A first in Wates’ experience, this offsite prefabrication approach is said to have eliminated more than 500,000 hours of working at height from the project.

Spanning the majority of the steel-framed facility and creating the required column-free spaces, the building includes a series of large fabricated roof trusses, which are supported by perimeter columns with flange thicknesses exceeding 90mm.

The steel frame also supports manufacturing equipment that creates substantial imposed loads. During the design phase, this required meticulous planning and robust structural solutions to the steelwork.

Additionally, stringent deflection limits were imposed on the project’s long-span floor beams in order to uphold the structural integrity and the required performance standards.

Other steelwork design challenges that had to be overcome included the limited availability of locations for vertical bracing. This was solved with an innovative engineering solution that maintained stability, both during construction and in the completed building.

Fire engineering was another critical consideration, involving the careful selection of steel member sizes and the application of intumescent paint to meet rigorous fire rating requirements, while ensuring structural safety and operational functionality.

To maintain an efficient construction programme, up to 50 truckloads of steel were delivered to the site each week.

Initially, the steelwork was transported from Severfield’s factory at Thirsk in North Yorkshire, nearly 200 miles from the site. To cut journey times, a temporary assembly facility was established at Pallion shipyard in Sunderland, which saved the project approximately 38t CO₂.

Produced by BCSA and Steel for Life in association with Construction Management.