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Essential Refurbishment

Beddington to Rowdown

South East

Across the country, National Grid often needs to update older parts of the network, including overhead lines and underground cables, to make sure you have the power you need at the flick of a switch. 

Update February 2022

In January 2019, National Grid began work to replace an oil-filled cable circuit between Beddington and Rowdown Substations in Croydon in an underground tunnel. The cable circuit has reached the end of its useful life, so a new one has been installed in its place.

This project is part of National Grid’s wider investment programme to support London’s growth and ensure it has a safe and secure electricity transmission network for the future.

Cable replacement project

The cable replacement project focuses activity at four main locations: Beddington substation, Lloyd Park headhouse, Kent Gate Way headhouse and Rowdown substation.

We’re in the latter stages of the project and expect our work will continue until Autumn 2022.

The replacement is complete, and we’re testing the new cable. We’ll take away the old cable, equipment and materials from our working areas later this year and carry out some reinstatement work, including resurfacing and fence repairs. We’ll then remove office cabins from Rowdown substation and stone chippings from the temporary haul road off Mickleham Way which leads to the substation, and lay asphalt to repair patches of the haul road too.

Cable decommissioning project

As the cable replacement project is coming to an end, the oil cable has become redundant. We’re decommissioning the old electricity cables between the substations, which are approximately 12km in length.

We’re in the final stages of our project. Most of our upcoming works will take place in Rowdown and Beddington substation with some work in-between the two sites along the cable route.

We anticipate project completion to be Summer 2022.

Our commitment to neighbours

We understand that our essential work may cause some inconvenience for the local community, and we’ll work hard to minimise disruption.

We’ll continue to keep our neighbours and key stakeholders informed about key pieces of work as we draw this project to a close.

Please note, the work won’t affect electricity supplies in the area.