Benthall Grange: repowering a landmark for 1,000 new homes

Benthall Grange is an ambitious redevelopment transforming the former Ironbridge Power Station into a thriving 1,000-home community. Acquired by the developer Harworth Group in 2018, the 350-acre brownfield site is one of the largest regenerations currently underway in the Midlands, including a care home, 33 commercial buildings, a new primary school and more.

Major utilities infrastructure required

Once demolition of the power station’s four cooling towers was complete, the site required new connections for multiple utilities. To manage this major undertaking, Harworth commissioned Last Mile for the end-to-end delivery of electricity, clean water, and fibre broadband.

Access constraints

Access was an issue at the development. The historic bridge to the site couldn’t bear the weight of heavy equipment and construction materials, like transformers, requiring a temporary access road to be built and multiple access rights agreements between Harworth and National Grid. These and other legal complications caused delays that risked Harworth’s build programme, which were offset with a fast energisation by the Last Mile team.

Strategic placement and coordinated design

Last Mile’s in-house team coordinated the utility designs, reducing conflicts and minimising trenching costs. The extra high-voltage primary substation was also built adjacent to the existing National Grid transmission substation, eliminating off-site works that would have caused further complexities and increased Harworth’s costs.

In total, Harworth’s large site required:

• One primary substation (33kV to 11kV), with National Grid connection
• Two secondary substations (11kV to low-voltage)
• Site-wide distribution cabling, for all high and low-voltage power requirements
• Clean water services, including full network design and New Appointment and Variation (NAV) adoption
• Ultra-fast fibre installation, for all site connections

Multi-utility delivery and timely connection

As one point of contact providing multiple utilities, Last Mile coordinated water and fibre installation alongside the electrical infrastructure. Working in partnership with Harworth, Severn Trent, and the local authority, the team designed a cost-effective water network.

Last Mile’s close relationship with the National Grid enabled the primary substation to be energised within a month of completing legal requirements.

Flexible phasing aligned with the developer’s programme

Last Mile designed and installed infrastructure in phases aligned with Harworth’s schedule, enabling flexible payment terms and delivering commercial benefits through improved cash flow and financial planning. Last Mile coordinated with all stakeholders and provided novation agreements to transfer connection costs and terms. When the housebuilder of the first parcel needed its show homes energised quickly, Last Mile expedited the process, saving the cost and hassle of a temporary solution.

Simplified delivery for complex regeneration

Provisioning three utilities through a single supplier eliminated the complexities of managing multiple providers on a large mixed-use project, helping to offset delays caused by legal issues, too. The joined-up approach streamlined the delivery and created a consistent customer experience from pre-construction through delivery.

On-time delivery enables early revenue generation

Last Mile delivered the major infrastructure works on schedule, with the first show homes now energised and housebuilders actively selling properties. The primary substation provides capacity for all 1,080 residential connections, plus the commercial and public facilities across the five phases.

Asset adoption reduces developer costs

Last Mile Asset Management has adopted and manages the completed substations and low-voltage networks. Thanks to Last Mile’s flexible payment terms, an asset value rebate is made to the developer upon energisation, helping to facilitate each phase of construction. As the development progresses toward full completion in 2030, Last Mile continues to manage multiple stakeholders at this site, acting as the single point of contact for all utilities.

This project was completed by UKPS, which was fully integrated into the existing Last Mile group in March 2026. While the company name has been rebranded to Last Mile, the team, expertise, safety and commitment to quality service remain the same.