Arup and AECOM form joint venture to power up The Great Grid Upgrade

The Partnership, which will initially focus on the network design and construction work required by the end of the decade on nine major infrastructure projects across England and Wales, forms part of a £9bn supply chain framework which will also support infrastructure projects beyond 2030.

In just the next six years, the major grid modernisation programme will entail building five times more electricity infrastructure than constructed over the past 30 years through the projects, which sit within the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework. It will see planned renewable energy facilities, including wind farms in the North Sea, benefitting from improved infrastructure to the backbone of the UK’s power system and enabling the transition to net zero. This will ultimately lead to cheaper energy and less reliance on fossil fuels.

The joint venture’s work will include delivering the consents for individual schemes within the programme. These consents will be through Development Consent Orders (DCOs) which entail technical and environmental design and preparation, as well as stakeholder engagement on the plans.