Leading international bridge and engineering services specialist Mabey has secured a contract worth £1.7 million from Carillion to deliver and install a number of temporary bridges to facilitate the construction of the National Grid Richborough Connection project.

The bridges will provide vital access for construction of the new 20km 400kV overhead line that will connect Nemo Link, a high-voltage electricity link between Belgium and Richborough in Kent, to the existing National Grid electricity transmission network.

National Grid has appointed the Carillion Eltel JV to build this complex project, which starts this autumn, and coordinate temporary and permanent diversions of existing UK Power Networks overhead lines, to enable the new 400kV connection to be constructed.

Mabey has been brought in to supply ten bridges for the project, including two 110-metre long Compact 200 bridges supported by Mat 125 towers and eight shorter crossings. As the project develops, up to 20 additional crossings have been identified which will be supplied from Mabey’s range of bridges.

Gordon MacDonald, CEO, Mabey UK Hire said: “We know the importance of delivering solutions more quickly, safely and efficiently and, for complex projects like this, it’s vital to make sure that the power line diversions are coordinated as smoothly as possible. We have a successful history working with Carillion so feel extremely proud to be given the opportunity to help them construct this vital new electricity transmission connection.”

Starting in Autumn 2017, the project is due to be completed by 2021.

^{Pictured: Mabey team at Elland Bridge, Leeds}