South East Electricity Substation Alliance
National Grid leading an alliance with Alstom,
Mott MacDonald and Skanska
Following the success of its Gas Alliances, National Grid
adopted a similar approach within its electricity transmission
business and in 2007 contracted various consortium partners for new
five-year contracts worth up to £2.8 billion.
Mott MacDonald was one of many companies that expressed an interest
in Alliance work. This culminated in us joining with AREVA and
Skanska to form a joint venture company, AMS JV, which was awarded
one of the four substation areas. The alliance was called the South
East Electricity Substation Alliance (SEESA) with its headquarters
established in Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire.
As a member of SEESA, we are able to work in collaboration with our
partners to resource and deliver substation projects to the
estimated alliance turnover value of around £550 million in the
contracted five year period.
Cable sealing at Hackney
SEESA work programme
The alliance supports National Grid’s increased investment
programme in the electricity transmission network and contributes
to the wider issue of security of supply. The projects undertaken
are required to facilitate the connection of new infrastructure
such as wind farms and other new electricity generation plant. They
also cover enhancement and replacement of existing assets to ensure
the continued safe and reliable operation of the electricity
network.
GI busbar at Grain
Mott MacDonald’s scope of services to SEESA
In collaboration with the alliance partners, our strong skills in
technical, design, project and programme management supports the
Electrical Alliance in resourcing and delivering substation
projects on time and with a strong commitment to safety.
Scheme development
Our electrical and civil engineers develop solutions in accordance
with the National Grid TP146 investment management process, ie.
development phases known as IP2 & IP3. [IP2 includes sufficient
detail to confirm the project is deliverable. It comprises outline
designs, stage by stage and key diagrams, specifications, outages,
risk register, zero by design, etc. IP3 Details the design further
and interfaces with partner designers to build a target cost].
Scheme/project design assurance
Design assurance involves checking the overall project design and
commissioning process by authorised engineers, ensuring the
buildability and maintainability of engineering designs. They
review the design/commissioning philosophy and detail adopted to
ensure the principles are technically sound and comply with
relevant National Grid, British and other relevant standards, and
that the designs meet the highest standards of safety, health,
environment, security and quality.
Electrical design
Electrical engineers, working in association with the equipment
supplier (AREVA), provide the on site interface for new protection
and control circuit requirements.
Environmental
Advice is also provided throughout the project delivery stage.
Environmentalists and ecologists are involved in initial scheme
options, advising the development team on environmental
requirements.
Civil design
When a project is given the green light, designers from AREVA
prepare layouts and the necessary design drawings to suit SKANSKA
build requirements.
Civil (condition assessment) and
surveys
Usually involved in the scheme development stages, our engineers
assess and report on civil condition assessment, geotechnical,
transportation and flood surveys.
Programme management
Our team based in Stokenchurch oversee the following key elements
of the alliance’s business:
- Programme schedule – checking and reporting on overall physical
progress
- Programme controls – monitoring and reporting of overall costs,
risk and earned value
- Customer integration – administering the works (work book) from
the customer point of view, managing the alliance workbook, change
events and checking the programme delivery interfaces are being met
(eg National Grid system outages)
