UK Car Battery Plant Credit precious madubuike via unsplash

2022 Jan Update #3: £100m Gov Money for Battery Plant, Elizabeth Line to Open, Space House Refurb, London to Host Green Summit, Southwark Homes

UK Battery Maker Receives £100m from Government

UK battery maker Britishvolt has allegedly received £100m funding from the UK Government through the Automotive Transformation Fund, delivered by the Advanced Propulsion Center, or APC. Britishvolt has also received £1.7billion from private investors Tritax and abrdn for the construction of a Gigafactory in Northumberland.

The 30 GWh factory will manufacture 300,000 cells for electric battery vehicle packs which is around 25% of UK supply. In total the UK will require 90GWh of batteries by 2030. Britishvolt is in conversation with UK Battery Industrialization Centre (UKBIC) on next generation batteries. Current battery technology is heavy and low range. R&D in the next decade is expected to be spent into further range lighter technologies. Britishvolt is exploring the idea of nickel as it increases energy in the battery cathode including range. As most battery parts are non-renewable it is also expected that recycling especially the precious materials such as lithium will be a hot topic in years to come. The Northumberland factory will create up to 8,000 jobs.

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Crossrail Elizabeth Line to Open

Elizabeth Line Train Credit Department for Transport via Flickr

TfL has completed the first phase of trials and service is expected to commence in the first half of 2022 between Abbey Wood and Paddington. The Elizabeth Line will benefit travel between the South East and London and bring new jobs and housing in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Essex. It will operate 12 trains per hour. All stations and platforms will be spacious. the trains are longer trains with walk-through air-conditioned carriages, live travel information, and free Wi-Fi. Progress continues to be made to also ensure that customers can enjoy 4G mobile connectivity as soon as possible. All 41 stations will provide step-free access from street to platform.

Award-winning wearable technology

North London Heat and Power Project deployed beable® Wearable to keep workers safe and productive; it facilitates physical distancing as well as interaction tracking. Co-developed by Electronic Media Services and COMIT Projects and funded by Innovate UK, the new technology has been well received and plans to further rollout with greater functionality are underway. 

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Bam Construct wins £110m London refurb job

Space House Credit Bam

Seaforth appointed Bam Construct a £110m contract to upgrade two London office tower and connect them by a bridge. The two towers will house office buildings and retail space and public & event spaces. Space House situated in Covent Garden was completed in 1968 and is Grade II listed.

 

 

London to host Green Summit in 2023

Ecocity Summit London 2023 Credit nerea marti sesarino via unsplash

London has won the bid to host the Ecocity World Summit in 2023 which is the premier global conference on sustainable cities. The event will be a hybrid both virtual and in-person at the Barbican Centre from 6-8 June 2023. It is supported by the UK government, mayor of London, London councils, City of London Corporation, Transport for London, UK Green Building Council, Royal Town Planning Institute, Green Finance Institute and Bartlett Faculty of Built Environment, UCL. 

700 New Homes in Southwark

Southwark Council appointed Linkcity owned by Bouygues to rebuild Tustin Estate on Old Kent Road. Construction will commence in 2022 and expected to complete in 2028. 200 new homes will be built in the initial phase to rehome existing residents. 440 new homes are commissioned with half as affordable housing. Also planned is a park and 1,800sqm of commercial floorspace.