Customer: Western Power Distribution 
Project: Summer Lane Primary Substation
Date: 2016 – 2018
Location: Summer Lane, Birmingham
The £6million strategic investment project is upgrading much of the equipment at the primary substation site, while also spreading load between two locations.
Summer Lane supplies the electricity which serves much of the city centre and Financial Quarter, the thriving economic powerhouse in Birmingham, which includes big businesses such as Prudential, HSBC, Aston University and the Paradise Circus redevelopment. A new primary substation at Hockley is supporting half of the original customers fed from here, with the transformed site supporting the other.
With approximately 5km of cable being laid, Pascon were appointed by WPD to take on the role of CDM for both the internal and external cabling works & associated earthing and cleating. Starting in 2016 Pascon began working closely with Western Power assisting with design of the bespoke containment required for this project, including the production of mock ups to ensure the design would be fit for purpose.
A number of unique challenges were faced by the team, with some cables being 280m in length from the road to the internal switchroom, across different levels with no joints.
WPD Projects Engineer Barry Organ who is responsible for overseeing the project said: “We’ve had so many different types of expertise involved in the project such as electrical and civil designers, fitters, jointers, commissioning engineers, asbestos analysts, to name a few, and it’s a rewarding challenge to oversee a project of this complexity.”
Pascon Managing Director Paul Smith said: “This is the largest project to date we have worked with WPD on, having previously being involved in similar smaller projects including Winson Green Primary Substation and Grand Central Station. The installation has to be of the highest quality as it will serve Birmingham for many years to come. We are proud to have had the opportunity to continue supporting WPD and look forward to working together on many more successful projects in the future”.