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Energy infrastructure contractor M Group has been awarded a £110 million contract to replace more than 70km of overhead line on ScottishPower’s Strathaven to Smeaton route in Scotland, SP Energy Networks said.
The Hertfordshire based company will fully refurbish the 400kV line, which runs from South Lanarkshire to East Lothian and is one of the main power corridors between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
SP Energy Networks said the existing line was constructed in the 1960s and that all its key components are being replaced, with almost one million metres of high-capacity conductor to be installed.
The award falls under SP Energy Networks’ £5.4 billion transmission framework, in which 19 companies were selected as preferred partners to help deliver a £12 billion transmission investment programme. Of the 19 contractors, 17 are headquartered in the UK and Ireland.
The partnership runs for an initial five years, with the option to extend to ten. The agreement includes up to £3 billion on new overhead lines and £2.4 billion on new and upgraded substations, covering design, engineering, construction and electrical works.
SP Energy Networks said the work will help it and parent company ScottishPower create 1,000 new jobs, and deliver tens of thousands more in the supply chain.
Guy Jefferson, transmission managing director at SP Energy Networks, said: “This contract award to M Group is representative of the kind of economic growth being generated by our £12 billion investment in upgrading the electricity transmission infrastructure in central and southern Scotland.”
He added: “We’re committed to maximising the opportunities for suppliers up and down the country, modernising the transmission network whilst unlocking growth and supporting more highly skilled, high-quality jobs.”
Jefferson said the Strathaven to Smeaton work was “just one example of how we’re turbo charging investment and driving supplier confidence”, adding that the company looked forward to “confirming more positive supply chain stories as we move through our investment programme”.
David Maddocks, managing director for overhead lines at M Group, said the company’s teams would refurbish the line by “replacing components first installed in the 1960s and deploying advanced high-capacity technology to support future demand”.
“Delivering this work with SP Energy Networks not only secures skilled jobs for our people and supports local employment, but also highlights our commitment to safe, efficient delivery on a project that will underpin the energy network for years to come,” Maddocks said.
Michael Shanks, minister for energy, said: “This investment is just one example of the ongoing work to upgrade our electricity grid, which is essential to power homes and businesses with clean, secure energy we control.”
He added: “It is also an enormous economic opportunity, boosting supply chains here in the UK and providing jobs and investment in communities right across the country.”
ScottishPower said it is investing £24 billion in the UK to 2028, a commitment its Spanish parent Iberdrola first set out when it pledged £24bn to upgrade UK energy infrastructure in 2024.
The M Group award comes days after ScottishPower announced £102.9 million of contracts for companies across the UK to support the operation and maintenance of 24 of ScottishPower Renewables’ onshore windfarms for the next five years. In March the company secured £600m from the National Wealth Fund for Eastern Green Link 4, a 2GW subsea cable between Fife and Norfolk.
SP Energy Networks owns and operates the transmission network for central and southern Scotland, with more than 4,500km of overhead electricity lines, 600km of underground cables and more than 150 substations. It also operates undersea high voltage cables and is constructing two new underwater links off the east coast of Britain.
Ofgem approved the company’s five-year business plan for the period 2026 to 2031 in its RIIO-3 final determinations, published in December 2025.
