Thank you to our neighbours for their understanding and support whilst our supergrid transformers have been delivered.
For further updates please contact our community relations team.
Community links
Since construction on the project started in 2024, our team has been supporting local schools and community groups.
We are proud to have supported a number of community groups who have successfully been awarded grants through our Community Grant Programme. Successful groups include North Cumbria Search & Rescue, the Laurie Brewis Trust and Parent Teacher and Friends of Blackford C of E Primary School Association. Over £42,000 has been awarded to local groups so far.
Blackford CE Primary School has received support totalling over £100,000 from our suppliers and contractors for a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) and IT equipment.
Pupils also took part in ant competition to create site safety signage, a site tour educational and careers workshops.
Through our work to date we have also made donations to other charities and local schools.
Headway
The substation site team has also worked with Headway North Cumbria to source local artwork to help decorate the site wellness room.
Community grant success for North Cumbria Search & Rescue
In 2025 we received several Community Grant Programme applications from local community groups
National Grid’s Community Grant Programme provides grants of up to £20,000 supporting a wide range of charities and community activities. Considered on a quarterly basis, we are pleased to share that North Cumbria Search & Rescue’s bid was recently approved. This means they will receive £20,000 of funding for a new roofing system at Heathlands, near Rockcliffe. The roof will help to protect the lifesaving rescue equipment from adverse weather conditions.
North Cumbria Search & Rescue is a Carlisle-based charity, providing a fully trained volunteer team specialising in water rescues and land searches, working alongside blue light services, as well as providing an extensive outreach programme based around water safety.
The charity was founded following Storm Desmond in 2015, when approximately 2,000 local homes and businesses experienced severe flooding, and there was no local team to support the community and emergency services in their time of need. Visit www.ncsar.uk for more information.
If you represent a local charity or community group and would like to apply, further information is available on our website.
Harker Team gets ‘Wilder at Work’ with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust
In October 2025, members of our substation project team took part in the ‘Wild at Work Day’ initiative run by Cumbria Wildlife Trust (CWT). Held at CWT’s organic working farm, Gosling Sike, the project team worked on several tasks including weeding, planting and working in the wildflower plant nursey.
They also carried out a scrub clearance at Drumburgh Moss, a national nature reserve, to help raise the water level so that the bog vegetation can regrow. The volunteers from National Grid, and our contractors Omexom Taylor Woodrow and Fourway, spent the day removing trees and scrub.
Supporting Blackford CE Primary School
In Summer 2025, we held an art competition for pupils to create safety posters for the site compound. Judged by the project team, the winners were presented with their prizes in a special assembly.
Alex Bil was chosen as the overall winner, and their poster has pride of place on site. The winners of each category also have their posters displayed in the site cabins, and a welcome sign has been designed using a montage of the entries.
Overhead lines Project Manager Kat Woods also visited the school as part of the careers week to host a series of sessions with all pupils about the role of a National Grid Project Manager. She ran workshops where the children pretended to be an engineer and tackled different issues to find the solutions.
Pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6 were also given a unique insight behind the scenes of the substation extension project with a tour of the construction site.
Kevin Harper, Project Manager at National Grid, said: “It’s wonderful to be able to support the communities we work in, particularly working with the local school and being able take them around our site and give them an insight into how we build important infrastructure. The children were enthusiastic, and we hope to see some of them working as engineers or project managers in the future”.
Support from our contractors
Additionally, our contractor for the overhead lines element of our project – Morgan Sindall – also supported Blackford CE Primary School with a donation towards the school’s Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) project and held a series of workshops with the children focusing on environmental studies, and construction activities in November 2025.
The school has also received a generous donation from the supplier of our SGTs, HD Hyundai Electric, to the school which included essential IT equipment and stationery for students. The package of support included a £25,000 financial donation, new computers, a charging centre, and student stationery, as well as educational and careers events for pupils.
Mrs Dorothea Mackay, Chair of Governors for Blackford CE Primary School, said: “The governors, staff and I are astounded at the generosity of HD Hyundai Electric and Morgan Sindall. The difference these donations will make to our pupils is significant. School budgets are tight, and this additional funding just allows us to purchase equipment we would not otherwise be able to afford.
“HD Hyundai Electric, Morgan Sindall and National Grid are leaving a wonderful legacy at Blackford School.”
Please contact our team for further information about how we could work with your organisation or community group.
Harker project scoops top award
The project won the Impact Award at the Mates in Mind Awards in October 2025. Mates in Mind is a leading UK charity raising awareness, improving understanding, implementing effective interventions and addressing the stigma of mental ill-health. The award highlighted the dedication, innovation, and commitment to creating positive mental health from the project team.
Kevin Harper, National Grid Project Manager, said: “It’s an honour for the Harker Energy Enablement project to have been shortlisted in this year’s Mates in Mind Impact Awards, but to win really showcases the way the team has strived to ensure that mental health is a key aspect in all of our work.
“Ensuring that our site team is safe, happy and healthy, both physically and mentally is a top priority for National Grid and we work closely with our contractor Omexom Taylor Woodrow (OTW) to ensure this is front of mind every day.
“We know the challenges and risks that poor mental health can lead to, particularly on construction sites, and it is fantastic to work with partners, such as OTW, which share our passion and commitment to improve mental health within our industry through a variety of innovative methods.”
Community Grant Programme
Our Community Grant Programme is aimed at organisations and charities in areas where National Grid’s work impacts local people through our operations and site activities.
We provide grants for community-based initiatives run by charities and community groups that meet local community needs by providing a range of social, economic and environmental benefits.
If your project meets our criteria, you can apply for a grant of up to £20,000.
Contact us
Telephone: 0800 319 6165 (Monday to Friday, 9am – 5:30pm)
Email: [email protected]
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