Gray Provides Project Services on Landmark Opportunity for Kentucky

Ford selected Gray to support primary contractor Barton Malow Company for the construction of BlueOval SK Battery Park, a complex with two battery production plants totaling 8 million s.f. Gray’s scope included all mechanical and electrical work, roofing, siding, and complete ISO 7 clean and dry room systems.

Gray’s services for the facility’s three-story clean and dry rooms required extreme attention to detail to maintain pristine conditions and precise humidity control for battery production and assembly. To accommodate BlueOval SK’s aggressive move-in and process line startup schedules, the Gray team designed and installed temporary walls as well as HVAC and dehumidifying systems.

The twin facilities are located on the Glendale Megasite, a 1,500-acre development tract in Glendale, a few miles outside Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Construction required the erection of 80,000 tons of steel, the pouring of 400,000 cubic yards of concrete, and the movement of more than 5,200,000 cubic yards of earth.

At full capacity, the two plants will create thousands of new jobs—a major opportunity for Kentucky and its workforce. To support the need for skilled labor, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College (ECTC) opened the BlueOval SK Training Center at the site to provide opportunities for those in regional communities to receive instruction and hands-on training for the plant’s technology and processes.

Big Project Presents Big Opportunity to Give Back to Hardin County

Gray’s partnership with Barton Malow Company on the construction of BlueOval SK Battery Park focused on much more than building a cutting-edge production complex. Long before the first shovel broke ground, Gray and Barton Malow teams were busy getting to know those in communities across Hardin County and applying industry skills and knowledge to meet their needs.

The BlueOval SK project teams contributed more than $357,000 in donations and work put in place for local organizations. These include the following and more:

• Donating raw timber to the Glendale Fire Department
• Coordinating a Christmas toy drive for local children in need
• Providing much-needed essentials for Kentucky flood victims
• Raising funds in a bowling event for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bluegrass
• Upgrading Glendale’s sidewalks, special needs restrooms, and public park fixtures, as well as South Hardin’s little league ballpark
• Volunteering for Kentucky’s Heartland Volunteer Center, Friends of the Hardin County Animal Shelter, Feeding America, and Silverleaf Sexual Trauma Recovery Services

Gray was honored to play a role in giving back to communities in the very region where the company was founded. The sheer scale of the BlueOval SK Battery Park project afforded Gray and our customers and partners the time and resources to make a lasting difference in Kentucky’s communities. The finished production complex opens the door to thousands of new skilled manufacturing jobs for the surrounding communities, but beyond this economic opportunity, the chance to nurture communal and cultural bonds with the people of Hardin County over the course of several years has made a positive impact that continues to reverberate into the future.