UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), Coventry

Inventions may start in laboratories and small workshops but if they are at all promising they soon have to make the leap to environments equipped for scaling the technology in order to become commercially viable.

The Faraday Battery Challenge is the Government program designed to fast track the development and commercialization of cost-effective, high-performance, durable, safe, low-weight and recyclable batteries. The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) is a key component, supporting battery technology scale-up in the UK.

This unique facility provides the missing link between battery technology, which has proved promising at laboratory or prototype scale, and successful mass production. Based in Coventry, the publicly-funded battery manufacturing development facility welcomes manufacturers, entrepreneurs, researchers and educators, and can be accessed by any organization with existing or new battery technology – if that technology will bring green jobs and prosperity to the UK.

AtkinsRéalis was appointed to provide project management, cost management, building surveying, CDM advisor and clerk of works services on this significant £130m national project.

Specific challenges included dealing with a multifaceted client (UKBIC, Coventry City Council and WMG - University of Warwick), working with experts from industry and academia with different requirements, and budgetary constraints. In addition, the building design needed to be considerably further advanced well before the process design was finalized. The challenge was to make provision for expansion and further change whilst minimizing the impact on the overall program.

We also successfully managed a number of stakeholder steering groups on the project and were members of others. We integrated group views and ensured these were assimilated into the project delivery. We liaised closely with the client's internal project management team, contributing to excellent stakeholder management.

There were, as they say, a lot of moving parts. And, of course, we had to help mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the project. Ultimately the outcomes were highly successful: The Category B fit-out used offsite modular construction to deliver primary utilities to streamline workflow and reduce construction impact; a similar approach was adopted by the vendor responsible for delivering the controlled environment rooms. This reduced potential disruption with the concurrent Cat B works; the finished facility now supports the development of batteries for a wide range of industries. To complement UKBIC’s high profile status the less visually appealing elements are located at the rear of the building while the frontage is attractively landscaped.

This technology is center stage, one will undoubtedly see rapid development in the coming years given the level of interest and demand. And we suspect that UKBIC will be leading the charge.

Photograph copyrights: UKBIC.