Please see below an update on the Sizewell C project provided to us by Ashley Shorey-Mills, Head of Sizewell C Supply Chain Engagement, Suffolk Chamber of Commerce.
“The Sizewell C project had a number of milestones in 2022, which concluded by seeing the UK Government commit to investing in the project to the value of almost £700m. This gave the project the confidence to move forward and through early 2023 have seen various permits authorised and more preparatory works commence.
The focus of the project is still to reach FID in this parliament and our belief is that we will likely see commencement of the project in 2024. Between now and then, there will continue to be small pockets of preparatory works such as access roads, vegetation clearing and some habitat mitigation work, along with swathes of ecology and archaeology work, which is ongoing.
Sizewell C itself, as the client, is still in the process of forming is long term structure for the delivery of the civils phase of the project, and has begun doing some local engagement with firms around ECI and capability/feasibility studies. We (at the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce) are working closely with the project to ensure that local and regional firms who are registered on our supply chain portal, are part of that conversation.
The continued key message is that all businesses need to get themselves registered, and when registered must keep this information up to date and accurate. For businesses based in the 6 counties of the East (Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambs, Herts, beds), you should register on www.sizewellcsupplychain.co.uk. For all businesses, both in our region, but also national, should also register on Compete For. This will be the location for all released tenders and contracts as the project gears up fully. www.competefor.com/sizewellc
In 2023, our focus will be very much looking at areas of social value and standards to help businesses prepare for Sizewell C, along with our continues work with the client and Tier 1s to bring more local and regional firms into the conversation. More formal events such as Meet the Buyer events are on the horizon, but the project is still not suite there yet. We are also now actively working with a number of local and regional businesses around setting up collaborations and formal JVs, and would encourage businesses to keep us in the loop if this is something you are working on or looking to be part of
Finally, we now some businesses are winning work already on site, and for some of this, it has to be kept quiet initially, but we are on hand to support you in promoting any successes you have at Sizewell C so please do keep us informed through your work on site so that we can best support you shout about any success and help you win further work.
Our team is on hand to help and support all businesses from across our region, so please do not hesitate to get in touch.”