Customer

National Grid

Location

Hertfordshire

Value

£36.6m

Completion Date

November 2025

On behalf of our client, National Grid, Murphy is working to extend the Elstree 132kV GIS substation in Hertfordshire to facilitate two new circuits and facilitate the construction of nine additional SGT bays which will provide the increased power capacity.

The circuits are planned to be delivered over two consecutive weekends and the is being carried out with the support of teams across the business including Ground Engineering.

KEY FACTS

  • Construction of nine new GIS bays
  • Work will include 125 continuous flight auger piles

Customer

National Grid Electricity Transmission

Location

Willesden

Completion Date

August 2026

Project Outline

This project for our client, National Grid, requires the removal of outdated equipment and installation of three circuits along Grand Union Canal towpath to provide better connections for the people of Northwest London.

KEY FACTS

  • Installation of 11.8km of 66kv cable and 639m of 400kv cable
  • removal of 8400m of oil-filled cable that had been installed in the 1960s

Customer

National Grid

Location

Yorkshire

Value

£141m

Completion Date

2027

Project Outline

Murphy is currently working for National Grid in Yorkshire to upgrade and reinforce the high-voltage power network and reduce the national reliance on fossil fuels. This project includes implementing substantial protection and control changes at six different substations in the area including new changes to electronic equipment and the associated wiring. Our team are on track to update existing structures (installing a new gantry, circuit breaker and isolator at Osbaldwick station) and create entirely new structures (such as two double tee arrangements and two new substations).

Yorkshire Green is the largest substation project awarded to Murphy to date. Collaborating and engaging with colleagues across the business, in areas including Plant and Applied Engineering, Murphy is helping the UK meet its 2028 net zero emissions, reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and contribute to lower energy bills in the long term, creating a safer, more sustainable future for the world.

KEY FACTS

  • The project is part of The Great Grid Upgrade, the largest overhaul of the electricity grid in generations
  • Yorkshire Green is the largest substation project awarded to Murphy to date.
  • Works spanning across nine different sites in North Yorkshire

Customer

National Grid

Location

UK-wide

Value

Ongoing

Completion Date

2030

Project Outline

Murphy is one of the seven industry partners appointed to deliver National Grid’s Great Grid Partnership, which is building the significant new electricity network infrastructure required to reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels by connecting 50GW of offshore wind by 2030. 

This new ‘enterprise model’ is a collaborative partnership bringing together National Grid’s supply chain partners. Two design and consenting service partners, and five construction partners are joining National Grid in the newly formed Great Grid Partnership.

Designed to speed up the delivery of much needed national electricity infrastructure by taking a fresh approach to UK supply chain and skills issues. The partnership aims to coordinate the planning and execution of projects, allowing each supplier and National Grid to pool their resources, skills, insights, and experience to deliver faster and more economically – driving value for money and benefits for both consumers and local communities.

By creating these long-term strategic contractual relationships, our partners will work collectively as an enterprise to drive value and innovation and secure delivery. Once established, this pioneering model will also deliver significant opportunities and benefits beyond the initial ASTI framework.

The partnership comes as the demand for products, services and skills continues to rise on a global scale as countries ramp up investment in the energy transition. It represents a huge challenge but also a great opportunity if industry works together to take advantage of the opportunity.

KEY FACTS

  • Murphy is one of the seven industry partners appointed to deliver National Grid's Great Grid Partnership
  • Pioneering ‘enterprise model’ as response to UK supply chain and skills shortage
  • The project spans from Norwich to Trawsfynydd and aims to harness the best innovative technologies with a positive social impact to build an essential electric network of the future.

Customer

National Grid

Location

Avonmouth

Completion Date

July 2024

Project Outline

The undergrounding of existing 132kV overhead lines is critical to the wider Hinkley connection project. When completed, it will allow a new 400 kV overhead line to be terminated in the Seabank 400 kV substation.

Works progressed well with the completion of 102 CFA piles, installed at 30m depth through an existing landfill. This allowed Murphy to complete the associated foundation and tower erection works on three new cable sealing end towers.

The first of six circuits was commissioned and energised in December 2023 with the remaining five circuits due to be commissioned by July 2024.

KEY FACTS

  • Connecting six million homes and business to homegrown low carbon energy
  • 70,000 hours worked in 2023
  • 105,000 tonnes of aggregate imported to create a permanent working platform
  • The project team received a National Grid Gold Safety Award for developing a new overhead lines permit

Customer

National Grid

Location

London

Value

£555m

Completion Date

2025

Project Outline

Working as part of the multi-award-winning Hochtief-Murphy Joint Venture HMJV, Murphy is contracted to deliver two major design and construction packages for National Grid as part of their £1bn flagship London Power Tunnels Phase 2 scheme.

We are replacing the existing cable infrastructure, ensuring the resilience of London’s electricity network. 2023 saw an important milestone with the end of tunnelling works, the completion of all five tunnel drives and the construction of all eight shafts – all completed with an exceptional safety performance.

The final breakthrough was achieved in September by TBM ‘Grace’, having tunnelled over 11km eastwards from New Cross substation in Southwark. This completed the 32.5km of tunnels across South London, with every section handed over on, or ahead of, time and within budget.

The Tunnels and Shafts package is due to be completed by mid-2024. The works to build the headhouses, which will cover the shafts and provide safe access to the tunnels and high-voltage cables, are already well underway at all our sites.

Key Achievements to Date

  • Broke a world record with the Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC) pour in April, saving 111kg of CO2/m3 – the equivalent of a year’s electricity usage of around 140 homes. This won Green Apple and Net Zero Project of the Year awards.
  • Constructed 20 km of tunnel in a single year using four TBMs.
  • Over 1,500 third party asset crossings undertaken successfully, of which 35 were considered critical.
  • Our health and safety performance has been recognised on multiple occasions, with two awards by National Grid and an award for Health Safety & Wellbeing Initiative of the Year by the New Civil Engineer Tunnelling Awards

KEY FACTS

  • Working as part of the multi-award-winning HMJV
  • Project covers two packages - Tunnels & Shafts and Headhouses & M&E
  • 20km of tunnel bored in a single year using four TBMs
  • Works included a world-record Earth Friendly Concrete pour on Earth Day, April 2023

Customer

National Grid

Location

Kent

Completion Date

2025

Project Outline

Murphy was selected as National Grid Ventures’ delivery partner to design and build the ‘Main Site Works’ workstream of ‘Capacity 25’ – Grain LNG’s capital expansion and enhancement project. Prior to the expansion, Grain LNG delivered circa 25% of the UK’s gas demand. The goal of the expansion was to raise this to one third.

As part of creating additional capacity requirements for National Grid’s LNG terminal, our role comprises:

  • engineering, procurement and construction of two additional submerged combustion vaporisers and associated equipment (rated capacity 173 tonnes/hour);
  • two additional ex-tank pumps (rated capacity 440m3/hour);
  • a new Boil Off Gas (BOG) compression building, housing three reciprocating compressors; and
  • a new local equipment room adjacent to the new BOG building for electrical supplies, instrumentation and control signals to the new BOG compression facilities.

Project Delivery

With our One Murphy approach, our specialist internal capability teams successfully completed the piling within the live site and the welding fabrications on site. Murphy is also delivering the Electrical, Control and Instrumentation (EC&I) packages as well as installing structural steelwork. In the course of the project, Murphy has:

  • reduced our carbon emissions by over 90% by using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) to fuel our plant and equipment;
  • safely worked over 325,000 hours in 2023; and
  • completed the installation of over 600 piles within the live Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) regulated site.

KEY FACTS

  • LNG storage increased to 1.2 million m3.
  • Piling and specialist welding completed within the live site by our specialist teams
  • Over 600 piles were installed within the live site
  • 90% carbon emission reduction

Customer

National Grid

Location

Highbury, London

Completion Date

February 2017

Value

£3.1m

Project outline

In February 2011, National Grid embarked upon a seven-year £1bn project to reinforce the high voltage network across London by installing new cables and wires via deep underground tunnels.

The new 32km electricity superhighway deep below the capital will help keep Londoners connected to safe and reliable electricity supplies. The London Power Tunnel (LPT) network runs from Hackney to St Johns Wood, Willesden to St Johns Wood and from Wimbledon to Kensal Green.

Murphy installed three 132kV cables and related steelwork between Highbury and Islington, and then Islington and St. Pancras substations. These circuits will connect two substations that Murphy initially constructed for UKPN as part of the EAN Framework.

The works required installation of the longest ever single-length power cables in an underground utility tunnel in the UK, at 2km long. Completion of the 132kV cables works was a critical key programme date for the LPT scheme and any delay would have had a significant effect on the overall National Grid programme. A seven day working week and well-presented programme enabled this challenge to be met.

KEY FACTS

  • Longest single-length cable pull in an underground utility tunnel in the UK (at the time of construction)
  • One circuit of cable installed a week
  • No accidents or RIDDOR incidents
  • Extensive range of plant was used to complete the work, much of which was designed, manufactured and tested in-house.