Electrical infrastructure lights up retirement village
Power On recently completed the installation of a bespoke electrical infrastructure at Beechmoor Retirement Village in Chester. The project involved providing a dedicated substation to supply electricity to 155 retirement flats, as well as communal facilities such as a restaurant, café, and wellness area. The installation was part of a larger development managed by the Elliott Group and required the delivery of electrical landlord supplies to six separate villas, along with a main supply to the central pavilion and a bulk connection for electric vehicle charging points.
Part of the project involved Power On undertaking directional drilling under a large and busy road junction on the A41 in Chester. Known for its solutions for complex utilities projects, Power On worked closely with the highways authorities to complete the 109m of drilling from the high-voltage connection point to the site, without having to close the road.
A key technical element of the Beechmoor project was the implementation of an ‘X-Type’ substation. This is a more complex, non-standard arrangement, usually seen in larger-scale infrastructure settings.
Unlike standard substations, the X-Type requires a bespoke indoor brick-built enclosure to house specialist equipment, including a wall-mounted Solkor protection panel, auxiliary batteries, enhanced monitoring systems, and communications interfaces. These additions enable high-voltage network monitoring and increased fault detection capability, providing extra resilience to the supply infrastructure.
