REVISED plans for the first phase of Somerset’s new £4bn ‘gigafactory’ have gone on display to the public for the first time.

Agratas announced in late-February 2024 that it would be investing heavily in the Gravity enterprise zone, between Puriton and Woolavington, creating around 4,000 well-paid jobs and delivering one of the largest single employment sites in the whole of Somerset.

The facility will provide electric vehicle batteries for Jaguar Land Rover, and could eventually provide up to 40 per cent of all electric vehicle batteries for the UK domestic market.

Construction firm McAlpine was awarded the contract in late-July 2024 for the pre-construction work on the former Royal Ordnance Factory site, with its staff hard at work at the site’s south-western corner.

The original plans for the first phase of the new complex were approved by Somerset Council in December 2024, which would allow construction work to move to the next stage in a matter of months.

But following “significant progress” on the site, Agratas has submitted revised proposals for this first phase, which will also include a new substation to power the gigafactory and the first section of an orbital road that will link the site to Enterprise Way and eventually a new junction on the M5.

Woolavington residents got the chance to see the proposals up close at a drop-in event staged at their local village hall on Tuesday evening (April 1).

The entire Gravity enterprise zone has been subject to a local development order (LDO) since December 2021, in a bid to speed up the delivery of any investment within the site.

Under the revised phase one proposals, ‘Building One’ will be 84 metres shorter in length than originally intended (a loss of around 12,000 sq m of floorspace) due to new-found “efficiencies in the manufacturing processes”.

The land freed up by this reduction will be used to “provide a larger landscaped area to the south”, reducing the urbanising effect of the development.

The amount of parking space within the site remains unchanged, with 562 standard car parking bays, 76 electric vehicle charging bays, 28 car share bays near the entrance (to promote car sharing), 74 covering cycle parking spaces, 37 Blue Badge parking bays, 29 motorcycle bays and a further 12 spaces specifically for contractors.

A spokesman for Agratas said: “With the proposed changes to the building, the parking, walking and cycling facilities are extended and relocated so they remain close to the building.

“Bus stops have been relocated to maintain short walking distances between the stop and the staff access doors.”

The southern section of the ring road will connect the site to Enterprise Way and a new National Grid substation, which will eventually provide the bulk of the power for the gigafactory and the wider Gravity site.

A further public drop-in on the proposals will be staged at the soon-to-be-expanded Puriton Primary School on Saturday (April 5) between noon and 2pm.

A decision on all three revised proposals is expected by late-spring.

The facility could be operational by late-2027.