BEAMA has launched a new group for the UK's services companies delivering power grid infrastructure, including those working in civil engineering, construction, design, specification and wider services.

The Electricity Networks Infrastructure (ENI) Services Group, whose founding members include United Infrastructure, Balfour Beatty, and M Group, intends to prioritise building the workforce and helping the UK supply chain invest, following the publication of the Electricity Networks Sector Growth Plan (ENSGP) last week.

The group gives services firms a route into the Electricity Networks Growth Partnership, set up by BEAMA and the Energy Networks Association (ENA) to implement the new Sector Growth Plan.

Priorities include building the workforce, with an estimated 71,000 people needed to fill direct roles by 2035, and helping the UK supply chain invest, through changes to procurement rules and standards, and through a clearer sight of future work

Griff Thomas, executive director of energy transition at United Infrastructure, and chair of the ENI Services Group said: “A contractor’s perspective is critical if the UK is to deliver this infrastructure as efficiently as possible. By bringing leading delivery partners together, we will have a single voice on policy and regulation, so we can shape it rather than just be on the receiving end of it.”

Working with BEAMA’s existing members through the Partnership, the group will help develop a national training programme and inform changes to procurement rules and industry standards that would speed up delivery and keep costs down. The Plan says the industry will need to attract, recruit, train and retain an estimated 71,000 people to fill direct roles by 2035.

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