Balfour Beatty has won a £42 million contract to deliver the Little Horsted Substation Grid Supply Point in East Sussex, UK.
National Grid (NG) has appointed the firm as the main contractor for a two-year project to design and build a new 400kV substation and two pylons.
Worth £42 million, the substation will connect NG to the local distributor, UK Power Networks, supporting electrical transmission to Little Horsted Substation Grid Supply Point, and the electricity supply to East Sussex.
The supply point is near Little Horsted, at the junction of Eastbourne Road with the A22, and work is due to start in early 2024, and complete in Autumn 2025.
Inside the project
NG submitted a planning application in 2021 to Wealden District Council, and it carried out preliminary ecological works and archaeological surveys in Summer 2022.
For the wider plan, Little Holsted will have two substations, one for NG and the other for UK Power Networks, and two pylons. One pylon at the site is set to be dismantled.
The project will support UK Power Networks in handling growing electricity demand, and allow it to remove its existing overhead line, comprising 72 pylons in the Ringmer area of East Sussex, including 10 in the South Downs National Park.
Social Value
Balfour Beatty is looking to employ local workers, and at its peak, will employ up to 120 people including a number of apprenticeship and graduate positions.
The firm also aims to plant approximately 500 trees during construction.
“Building on our longstanding and successful relationship with National Grid, this latest contract will see us improve the power supply in East Sussex, and help provide the UK with the grid connectivity required to meet increased future demand,” said Ian Currie, managing director of Balfour Beatty’s power transmission and distribution business.
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