A Sense of Place
Design guidelines for property development near high voltage overhead lines
National Grid is one of the world's largest utilities. It owns the high-voltage electricity system in England and Wales and operates the system across Great Britain. National Grid has a wealth of information available for developers and their professional advisers, as well as for contractors and utilities working on land affected by its equipment.
The UK electricity industry has no formal say in the development of many of these sites.
National Grid's Land & Development Policy Team wanted to promote new design guidelines for property developers, housebuilders, planning authorities and urban designers about sensitive development near high-voltage overhead electricity lines.
Our brief was to:
- Provide advice and contacts throughout the consultation phase
- Help edit and publish the guidelines
- Manage the launch event
- Promote the guidelines to the planning and development community.
Through targeted lobbying, consultation and creative communications, National Grid is now seen as a positive, practical and helpful partner in planning projects. More than 750 copies of the guidelines were requested in a few months, and the initiative won Ministerial praise.
To find out more about the Sense of Place guidelines, go to: www.nationalgrid.com/uk/senseofplace
"We needed a starting point in our work. Liz's up-to-the-minute knowledge and experience of the property industry means she understood what we needed, she knew which messages to put out and could identify the main protagonists to get that information to a wider audience. It would have taken us a long time to do that inhouse."
Catherine McCloskey, Land & Development Policy Manager, National Grid
