IN Brief:
- United Infrastructure has been appointed to National Grid UK’s cable installation framework.
- The framework has a total potential value of up to £640m and includes eight service delivery partners.
- United Infrastructure will deliver 66kV, 132kV, and lower-voltage cable installation, jointing, testing, and commissioning works.
United Infrastructure has been appointed as one of eight service delivery partners on National Grid UK’s cable installation framework.
The framework has a total potential value of up to £640m and will support electricity infrastructure delivery across National Grid’s transmission, distribution, and wider UK businesses. The works will reinforce network resilience and support the transition to a cleaner power system.
Under the framework, United Infrastructure will deliver cable installation works for 66kV, 132kV, and lower-voltage circuits. The scope also includes associated jointing, testing, and commissioning activity across National Grid Electricity Distribution projects throughout the UK.
The framework is available for use across National Grid group companies, including National Grid Electricity Transmission, National Grid Ventures, and National Grid Electricity Distribution operations in the East Midlands, West Midlands, South West, and South Wales.
United Infrastructure has expanded its power business since early 2025. The business now covers low-voltage, high-voltage, transmission, and distribution activity, giving it a broader delivery role across regulated electrical infrastructure.
Campbell Crawford, Managing Director Power T&D, said: “We’re delighted to have been appointed to National Grid’s new cable installation framework and to continue our long-standing relationship with NGED as one of their trusted delivery partners. We look forward to continuing to invest in our people and capability as we help strengthen the UK’s electricity network for years to come.”
The appointment lands within a period of rising grid investment, including National Grid’s £70bn network investment plan, which places transmission and distribution infrastructure at the centre of the UK’s electrification programme. Further details of that plan are available at electricalnews.co.uk.
Cable delivery is one of the practical constraints inside that programme. High-voltage and distribution cable works require specialist installation teams, jointing expertise, testing capability, outage coordination, civil works, traffic management, safety systems, and commissioning resources. As grid reinforcement accelerates, contractor availability becomes a limiting factor alongside equipment lead times.
The framework also aligns with an expanding transmission requirement. NESO has raised its 2030s transmission investment estimate to almost £89bn, with an updated network design recommending 43 projects for delivery through the next decade. The wider programme is described at electricalnews.co.uk.
National Grid’s cable framework covers 66kV, 132kV, and lower-voltage works rather than the HVDC mega-projects that tend to dominate national grid-investment debate. Distribution and sub-transmission networks are nevertheless where much of the practical electrification load appears, including new housing, EV charging, industrial connections, heat electrification, solar, storage, and local reinforcement.
Framework procurement gives network operators a clearer route to repeat work packages and reduces procurement friction across a rising volume of projects. It also gives delivery partners more visibility over the capability, labour, plant, and training investment required to support regulated network programmes.
The award strengthens United Infrastructure’s position in power transmission and distribution delivery, while also reflecting the UK’s movement from grid planning into grid construction. Published investment plans now need to become cable routes, joint bays, tested circuits, commissioned assets, and resilient networks capable of absorbing the next phase of electrified demand.
