Sizewell C has secured planning permission for a tunnel segment factory at Avonmouth in Bristol, New Civil Engineer and Construction News reported this week. The site, previously used to produce tunnel segments for Hinkley Point C, is being brought back into use rather than built from scratch, retaining existing infrastructure and reusing the experience of teams who worked on the Somerset project.

The factory will produce 38,000 pre-cast concrete segments plus tunnel heads for Sizewell C's three marine tunnels, which carry cooling water to and from the plant. Full production is expected to start in 2028, subject to planning conditions, and the finished components will travel to Suffolk by rail and sea rather than road, supporting Sizewell C's target of moving at least 60% of its construction materials by those routes.

Why it matters

This is the clearest evidence yet that Sizewell C is treating its supply chain as a national manufacturing programme rather than a single Suffolk construction site. Reusing the Hinkley Point C tunnel factory and its workforce means contractors and specialist trades who built up marine tunnelling expertise on that project now have a direct route into the next one, rather than that knowledge dispersing once Hinkley wound down.

It also spreads Sizewell C's economic footprint well beyond the site itself. Early works are already under way, with the Civil Works Alliance employing 55 people directly and a further 86 through the supply chain. The scale-up to full production will multiply that considerably, at a plant hundreds of miles from Suffolk.

What it means for your career

The headline number is 400 jobs at the Avonmouth site once production ramps up, covering precast manufacturing, batching plant operation, logistics and site management, alongside the marine engineering and tunnelling specialists who oversee segment design and quality. For anyone who worked on Hinkley Point C's tunnel production, this is a plant that wants exactly that experience back, and the transferable skills argument to a recruiter or hiring manager writes itself.

More broadly, it is a reminder that nuclear new build jobs are not confined to the reactor site. Precast concrete, marine logistics and civils manufacturing roles are opening up wherever the supply chain lands, and the West Country is now firmly on that map alongside Suffolk. Anyone building a CV around nuclear infrastructure should be tracking factory and manufacturing announcements as closely as the headline contract awards.