Investment work which will increase the capacity of Preston’s power network continues to progress, with activity moving to the next stage.  

Engineers from SP Electricity North West are well under way with a £5m project which will see the complete overhaul of a substation on St Mary’s Street.

In what is a significant engineering project, engineers have already installed new electrical switchgear along with a stretch of underground cables.

A new building which will house the assets has also been built with further work planned on site over the coming months.

Karen McFadden, who is overseeing the work in Preston for SP Electricity North West, said: “We continue to make good progress on this major project for the city of Preston which will benefit more than 5,000 homes and businesses.

“The work will ensure people will be able to adopt technologies such as heat pumps and electric chargers as we all become more reliant on electricity.

“We still have a lot of work to do and we will ensure residents are kept up to date with any future road closures and project updates.”

Having first started in 2024, teams will continue to prepare the substation and carry out enginering work later this year. Once complete, SP Electricity North West will start demolishing the old substation building ahead of the delivery of two new electrical transformers in 2027.

SP Electricity North West has also hand delivered letters to those impacted with details about the closures and the project.

Further full and half closures will take place throughout the year so teams can work safely and manoeuver equipment into place when it is needed. The following closures are:

• Henrietta Street – part access, one way only -January 5^th until January 25^th.
• Henrietta Street – full road closure- January 26^th until January 30^th.
• Henrietta Street – part access, one way only – January 31^st until March 20^th.
• Henrietta Street – full road closure – 21^st March until November 5^th 2027
• St Mary’s Street – full road closure – 21^st March until June 5^th.

All work has been agreed with the local authority and teams will work over weekends and evenings to minimise disruption.