Video | Electricity towers dismantled ahead of housing development

Electricity distributor UK Power Networks has dismantled three electricity towers in Mid Sussex to allow for the construction of a new residential development and community infrastructure north of Burgess Hill.

Overhead electricity lines and towers by the A2300 were replaced with 1km of underground cables. Another tower is scheduled for removal from the local electricity grid next year, during the construction of a substation for the Brookleigh development.

Capital programme delivery teams at UK Power Networks coordinated consents, access and excavations to safely divert the 132,000-volt electricity circuits underground. Work included a trenchless technique to install the cables under the A2300 to minimise impact on traffic.

After de-energising the overhead lines, the cables were gradually lowered, and the towers dismantled, with all the metal recycled, said UK Power Networks.