The National Grid has announced the start of work to build a new substation site on Eastbourne Road at the junction with the A22.
Many road users and local residents will have already noticed Balfour Beatty signs going up and initial works taking place on the site next to Crockstead Farm, and we have now received confirmation about the nature of the works and how long they are expected to last.
Paul Alchin, Project Manager for the National Grid, offered the following statement:
“Balfour Beatty is the main contractor for the project, which is on Eastbourne Road at the junction with the A22. The scheme involves building two electricity substations (one for National Grid and one for UK Power Networks), two new electricity transmission pylons, and the dismantling of an existing grid pylon.
“The development will provide a new connection for our customer, UK Power Networks, and will ensure a continued safe and secure supply of electricity to local homes and businesses.
“We understand our essential work may impact the local community and we’ll work hard to minimise disruption where we can. We’ll regularly monitor construction traffic, vehicle movements, noise, dust, vibration, and light.
“We’ve written to our site neighbours and wider local community members about this work.
“We’ll begin groundworks soon after setting up our working area. We expect groundworks will take around three months to complete. The site needs to be levelled for the substation build and we estimate we’ll need to remove around 65,000 cubic metres of earth from site – this will involve around 100 lorry movements a day.
“Please be assured Balfour Beatty will carefully manage this work and will follow a Traffic Management Plan which includes the use of road sweepers and wheel washing facilities to help keep the area clean.
“Our team will usually work between 7am to 7pm on weekdays (excluding bank holidays) and, to complete the project on time, we will also work alternate weekends from 7am to 5pm on Saturdays and 8am to 3pm on Sundays.
“HGV deliveries (not including muck away lorries) are limited to 8am to 12pm on weekends. If there are any changes to these working hours, we will of course let you know. None of our work will affect electricity supplies.
“We recognise that our responsibility as a business goes beyond safely building new energy infrastructure and we’re keen to leave a positive legacy where we build our projects.
“Through our Community Grant Programme, we invest money in local causes. Any groups who are interested in applying for support, can speak to our community relations team or visit our website for more details.
“The works should finish around December 2025.
“If you have any questions, or would like to know more, please contact our community relations team for free on 0800 073 1047. They’re available Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm and weekends, 7am to 1pm. An answering service is in place outside of these times. Alternatively, you can email nationalgridteam@jbp.co.uk or visit our website https://www.nationalgrid.com/electricity-transmission/network-and-infrastructure/little-horsted.”
Feature image and article image credit: Google Maps 2024.
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