UK construction giant Balfour Beatty has landed a £214 million National Grid contract to deliver overhead line works.

The North and South 400kV overhead line project plays a vital part in the Hinkley Point C (HPC) connection scheme, linking the new nuclear reactor to the national grid.

Balfour Beatty will design, supply, install, test and commission a new overhead line spanning 48.4km and crossing through the Mendip Hills in Somerset. The new line will connect HPC with a new substation in Avonmouth, Bristol.

At construction peak, the project will employ a workforce of over 150, providing local employment as well as apprenticeship and graduate opportunities.

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The firm will also utilise National Grid's new T-Pylon design, significantly improving efficiency, reliability and safety by vastly reducing the need for the workforce to work at height.  

Mark Bullock, Balfour Beatty's Chief Executive Officer for its Rail and Utilities business, said: "Our extensive knowledge and unique capability in delivering major complex Overhead Line schemes, makes us ideally positioned to play a key role in helping to deliver the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK for more than 20 years.

"We look forward to working with National Grid to successfully and safely deliver low-carbon electricity for around six million homes across the UK."

Work will commence this month and is expected to be completed in summer 2025.

This project marks the third major package of works Balfour Beatty will deliver at HPC, following its nuclear power station's electrical works package in a joint venture with NG Bailey in 2015, and the tunneling and marine works package in 2017. 

(CM/MH)