Go-ahead tipped for 2.1m sq ft IAMP giga-factory
Sunderland’s planning officers recommend approval for AESC’s next electric vehicle battery plant, a project that will need to go to the secretary of state for final sign-off.
An extraordinary meeting of Sunderland City Council’s planning & highways committee will consider the proposals on 9 September.
Lichfields is the planning advisor and RPS Group the designer for the AESC Plant 3 project, which is earmarked for land west of International Drive and north of the A1290 at the International Advanced Manufacturing Plant.
The application – reference number 24/00723/FU4 on Sunderland’s portal – covers the “erection of a building to be used for the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles, an assembly & warehousing building, an office building, sub-stations, gatehouse, ancillary compounds/structures and associated infrastructure provision, access, parking, drainage, landscaping and engineering operations, with temporary site compounds and parking associated with construction of the development”.
AESC, regarded as a global leader in automotive battery tech, opened what was Europe’s first EV battery plant at IAMP in 2012, to produce batteries for the Nissan Leaf.
This plant is now referred to as AESC Plant 1, and approval has already been granted for AESC Plant 2, now under construction and gearing up to produce AESC’s next-generation battery. With improved efficiency and range.
In its planning statement, Lichfields said that “the development of AESC Plant 3 is a unique and most exciting opportunity to help Sunderland and the UK become one of the best international locations for automotive and advanced manufacturing.
“The proposals will help ensure that AESC UK, the IAMP and Sunderland are at the forefront of innovations in battery technology and are playing a critical role in leading the de-carbonisation revolution through the promotion of clean energy and new energy electric vehicles.”
Among the consultees for the project is Barratt David Wilson Homes, which is in place to develop up to 1,500 homes at the nearby Washington Meadows, a safeguarded site. BDW said it is supportive of the project – a creator of around 1,000 jobs – but expressed a desire for more engagement around proposed building heights.
As IAMP, the joint development by Sunderland and South Tyneside councils, is such a major strategic development – with IAMP 2 in the pipeline – extensive pre-application work has been done, so a recommendation of approval locally should come as no surprise.
However, due to the scale of the plans and their incursion into Green Belt land, the plans must be referred to central government to be rubber-stamped.
Of the 2.1m sq ft, the lion’s share of square footage is for manufacturing and storage space, with a 42,000 sq ft office building included, along with 180,000 sq ft for plant space, the gatehouse and other supporting infrastructure.
Sunderland’s planning committee meets on 9 September.
