PowerCo's $7B St. Thomas Gigafactory Enters Vertical Build, MEP Packages Still Open
Daily Commercial News reports that PowerCo’s $7-billion EV gigafactory in St. Thomas, Ontario has moved from foundation work into full vertical construction, with steel columns, beams and trusses now rising on what will become Canada’s largest battery-cell plant. For subcontractors watching the project, the timing matters: the trades tied to concrete and structural steel are already locked in, but the packages that follow, mechanical, electrical, cladding, roofing and utilities, are the next wave of work to hit the street.
Background
The St. Thomas site traces back to an April 2023 agreement between Volkswagen Group, PowerCo and federal, provincial and municipal governments. Land clearing and site prep wrapped in 2024, and major construction contracts were awarded through 2025, Daily Commercial News reports. Foundation work accelerated late last year, and the project is now well into erecting building skeletons.
The scale is hard to overstate. The battery-cell production building alone will run 1.5 million square feet, roughly 210 football fields, sitting inside a 1,500-acre industrial park. Magil Construction Canada is leading foundation work on three buildings totaling 850,000 square feet, a package that includes more than 500,000 square feet of formwork, over 32,000 cubic meters of concrete (about 13 Olympic pools worth) and 4,850 metric tonnes of reinforcing steel, which Daily Commercial News notes ranks among the largest publicly reported rebar installations for an industrial project in southwestern Ontario.
Steelcon Group of Companies has the structural steel scope, fabricating and erecting columns, beams and roof trusses with more than 500 employees supporting the effort. Once the six production blocks have their steel skeletons up, the project moves into cladding, roofing, mechanical and electrical infrastructure, utility tie-ins, and eventually installation of battery-manufacturing equipment ahead of a targeted 2027 production start.
Analysis
The sequencing here is the story for subs. Concrete and steel are the visible, headline-grabbing scopes right now, but they’re also the scopes that are already committed. Magil and Steelcon have those packages locked. What’s left, and what Daily Commercial News flags explicitly as still to come, is where the bid opportunities sit: mechanical, electrical, process systems, cladding, roofing and utility work.
This is a normal industrial-build pattern, but the scale here changes the math. A 1.5-million-square-foot cell production facility spread across six blocks means MEP scopes will be split into multiple packages rather than awarded as one lump contract. Battery manufacturing also requires specialized process piping, cleanroom-grade environmental controls, and precision electrical infrastructure that goes well beyond typical industrial finish-out. Firms with battery, semiconductor or pharma-grade cleanroom experience should have an edge over general industrial MEP shops when those packages hit.
The site’s supporting infrastructure work is also worth watching. Road improvements near Highway 3, utility upgrades and transportation enhancements are underway to handle both construction traffic and long-term plant operations. That’s separate scope from the factory buildings themselves and likely represents additional civil and utility subcontract opportunities tied to municipal or provincial coordination rather than PowerCo directly.
Winter construction has already tested the schedule once. Daily Commercial News notes steel erection and structural work continued through difficult winter conditions in 2025 and 2026, requiring tight coordination among contractors. Any MEP or process-system subs bidding into 2026-2027 work should expect similar weather-driven scheduling risk and build contingency into their proposals accordingly.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- MEP, cladding, roofing and utility packages remain open as the project shifts out of foundation and steel phases, per Daily Commercial News; firms with battery or cleanroom-grade mechanical and electrical experience should position for these scopes ahead of the 2027 production target.
- Concrete and structural steel are committed to Magil Construction Canada (foundation, three buildings, 850,000 sq ft) and Steelcon Group (structural steel erection, 500+ workers), so subs chasing those trades should look instead at second-tier scopes like rebar supply, formwork rental, or crane/rigging support feeding those primes.
- Process-system and battery-equipment installation trades should track commissioning timelines closely, since Daily Commercial News confirms this work follows structural completion and precedes the targeted 2027 production start, meaning bid windows likely open through late 2026 and into 2027.
- Civil and utility contractors should watch for separate procurement tied to Highway 3 road improvements and utility upgrades near the site, which are distinct from the factory build itself and may run through municipal or provincial channels rather than PowerCo’s prime contractors.
- With up to 3,000 direct jobs and 30,000 indirect jobs projected regionally, and only 200-plus employees onboarded as of early 2026, subs bidding into 2026-2027 packages should factor in a tightening skilled-trades labor market across the London-St. Thomas region as hiring accelerates.
