Burns & McDonnell to deliver Aberdeenshire substation infrastructure | Project Scotland

BURNS & McDonnell has been selected as a preferred bidder by SSEN Transmission to deliver onshore transmission infrastructure across Scotland.

SSEN Transmission’s £10 billion framework is set to be ‘pivotal’ in helping the UK and Scottish governments reach their 2030 renewable energy and energy security targets.

Burns & McDonnell has been awarded a contract by the organisation to engineer, procure, and construct a proposed new substation in Aberdeenshire. The project is part of Ofgem’s accelerated strategic transmission investment programme, which represents a streamlining of 26 projects across the electricity grid.

The firm said that the creation of the proposed new substation, which will be 400kV capable, marks a ‘significant’ step towards achieving the UK and Scottish governments’ offshore wind targets for 2030, and securing the country’s future energy independence.

The contract continues the growth of Burns & McDonnell in the UK and adds to the portfolio of work it is undertaking. The business, which has been operating in the United States for 125 years, opened its first European office in Birmingham in 2017. Since then, the team in the UK has more than tripled in size. It added a business practice in London focusing on mission-critical projects in 2020 and opened its new Scottish office in Motherwell in June 2022.

Jonathan Chapman, UK MD at Burns & McDonnell, said, “I’m delighted that SSEN Transmission has once again chosen to partner with Burns & McDonnell on a major transmission framework, and it is a testament to the quality of our work as a team. It is fantastic to have been awarded the new EPC project as part of the ASTI programme, and we are committed to using local content, which will bolster the economic impact of this project on the local community in Aberdeenshire. We are also proud to be part of the work being done to support the UK’s transition to net zero.”