Rothienorman Substation teams help spread Festive Cheer with toy donations to Home-Start Garioch

Balfour Beatty Engineer Andrew Stewart (left) and SSEN Transmission Construction Manager Stuart Morrison (right) visited Home-Start Garioch’s offices in Inverurie to drop off the Christmas presents.

Project teams working on an electricity substation at Rothienorman are helping to spread some Christmas spirit to ensure children most in need can experience some festive magic this Christmas. 

Team members from SSEN Transmission and Balfour Beatty came together to buy toys, gifts and selection boxes to donate to Home-Start Garioch, a charity based in Inverurie which helps to support families with young children who are facing difficulties.  While their work is important at this time of year, they work hard all year round to provide support to those most in need.

Each year Home-Start Garioch collect Christmas gifts and toys to families who may be struggling, and when the Rothienorman team heard that they were accepting donations, they set about choosing gifts, toys and selection boxes to help out the local community. 

Earlier this week Balfour Beatty Engineer Andrew Stewart and SSEN Transmission Construction Manager Stuart Morrison visited Home-Start Garioch’s office in Inverurie to drop off the presents, much to the delight of the Home-Start Garioch team. 

Home-Start Garioch Scheme Manager Mhairi Philip said: 

“I was totally overwhelmed when Stuart and Andrew arrived with the toys. You could see how much thought had gone into choosing the gifts.  The boys did good! 

“There will be lots of very happy children waking up on Christmas morning and very grateful parents.  It’s just truly wonderful."

SSEN Transmission Construction Manager Stuart Morrison said:

“It’s really important to us that we support the communities in which we operate, and all of the project team working at Rothienorman wanted to give something back to the local community this Christmas.  We came across the brilliant charity Home-Start Garioch and the amazing work they do to support families during this difficult time of year, and the whole team sprang into action to donate presents for the kids to wake up to on Christmas morning. 

“We’re a small team working on the Rothienornam Project, but I think everyone really enjoyed purchasing and donating the Christmas gifts for Home-Start Garioch.  I’m so pleased that we’ve been able to help bring a little bit of festive cheer.”

An aerial picture of Rothienorman Substation, Winter 2023

Construction of the substation, located around two miles west of the village of Rothienorman, began with Phase one in 2019, and is part of a wider strategy to reinforce the transmission network in the North East and East Coast of Scotland to accommodate increased renewable energy generation in the area.   

Working with principal contractor Balfour Beatty, the Rothienorman Substation project involves upgrading the existing infrastructure at the substation from 275 kilovolts (kV) to 400kV.  This increased capacity will help accommodate the connection of more renewable generation from across the north of Scotland, playing a key role in the transition to net zero emissions.

To learn more about the Rothienorman Substation development visit: https://www.ssen-transmission.co.uk/projects/project-map/rothienorman-substation/