Balfour Beatty picked to build Britain's largest substation on a former Teesside steelworks

National Grid Electricity Transmission agreed the purchase of the Dorman Point land last week, Place North East reported. The price was not disclosed. Agents quoted by the outlet estimate it at about £20 million, based on local industrial land values of as much as £300,000 per acre. Teesworks will spend six months remediating and preparing the former steelworks ground before handing it over.

The substation will sit directly under existing 275 kV and 400 kV overhead lines and falls under National Grid's Great Grid Upgrade program, according to Construction Enquirer. Steel River Power, which runs the private power network on the estate, has contracted its first 1,440 MVA. That network now has 360 MVA of capacity, with 200 MVA available, Place North East reported.

Steel River Power is owned jointly by Steel River Energy and North West Electricity Networks, a ScottishPower and Iberdrola company. The new supply is aimed at data centers, AI, advanced manufacturing and other heavy power users on the site. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said capacity could later grow to 3.2 GW.

Construction Enquirer described the £200 million value as an estimate. Teesworks is 90% owned by two local developers and 10% by the public South Tees Development Corporation, and its past land deals have drawn public scrutiny, though no wrongdoing has been found, Place North East noted. A government inspector began reviewing the Tees Valley Combined Authority last month.