Britain has many areas of naturally beautiful landscape. Unfortunately quite a few of them are marred by pylons and overhead lines trooping across the countryside. The need for electricity transmission overrode aesthetics in earlier times. Now the UK’s National Grid is gradually removing these eyesores and replacing them with underground cables.
The area concerned is in the South of England. Planning consent has been obtained for infrastructure that will allow National Grid to remove 4.6km (2.8 miles) of existing overhead high voltage electricity line and replace it with underground cables in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The plans, developed in collaboration with local stakeholders and the community, will transform the skyline north of the town of Devizes in Wiltshire.
The project will require major engineering activity to remove the extant wires and structures and lay the underground cable, then join it up with existing overhead lines. National Grid has appointed Balfour Beatty as its main contractor to carry out the construction work, which will start in 2024.
Ian Currie, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty Power Transmission & Distribution, said, “This latest contract award is a testament to our longstanding relationship with National Grid and our unrivaled expertise and experience in delivering complex energy projects. We look forward to bringing back the unhindered views in one of Britain’s most beautiful landscapes for walkers, visitors and the local community, whilst also ensuring the continued, secure supply of energy to homes and businesses.”
This project is part of a larger scheme called the Visual Impact Provision which has been funded with £465 million ($587 million) by electricity and gas markets regulator Ofgem to restore the visual beauty of areas in the UK that have their landscapes visually impaired by power lines and other transmission infrastructure.