Utilities specialist, Power On, today announces the energising of the next significant stages of Brent Cross Town, an entirely new community with a vision to be net zero carbon by 2030.
A huge undertaking, Power On commenced work on Brent Cross Town in 2019 and there are over 70 buildings to be developed. Today, Power On announces the energising of Plot 14, a residential block composed of three buildings that will provide 286 new homes, ranging from studios to three-bed units, along with three maisonettes on the ground floor; and Plot 25, student accommodation providing around 660 private rooms, with communal study and recreation areas and a commercial unit on the ground floor.
Power On has been responsible for connecting and energising all of the plots built at Brent Cross Town so far. This process began with Plot 12, which welcomed its first occupants in early 2025. The company has also connected three other residential blocks (plots 13, 202 & 203). These are residential buildings with a total of 648 apartments and nine retail units to enhance the community as the development progresses.
This also includes Plot 1, a flexible space, over 13 storeys, for office or educational use, part-owned by Sheffield Hallam University, and including flexible retail space, and over 200 long-stay cycle parking places, with 200 lockers and 22 showers.
Electricity
Providing the electricity and water connections for the developments, Power On has already installed a primary substation with space for four transformers. Two transformers have already been installed and a further two will follow in the future as required. As the development progresses, Power On will phase in new elements of the electricity network, with an extension to the primary substation planned for the future, to enable an additional high voltage network. This will involve six kilometres of offsite cabling and BUUK, which owns Power On, will adopt the whole network right up to the exit points for suppliers.
Water
Power On is providing a resilient water network for the development, with two connections onto Thames Water’s network, so that there is a contingency plan in place. If one connection fails for any reason, the residents will still have drinking water and will be able to flush their toilets. With the development constantly evolving and progressing, Power On needs to keep on top of the master flow rates and to ensure that the network meets the water efficiencies that are required of the current and future water network. Working alongside GTC who completed the initial water design for the development, and IWNL for operational queries for both potable water and wastewater requirements, to ensure the networks are compliant and maintain security of supplies.
Early engagement
Michael Boulter, Senior Design Engineer at Power On, says: “With such a huge ongoing development, the phased approach is a complex matter in itself. We are managing each phase and the capacity within that phase, but also always looking at the bigger picture to ensure that we can provide flexibility and certainty to the developer that we have designed to meet current and future requirements for the development. As the main infrastructure and highways need to be installed prior to the plot connections, we are reducing the overall exposure to the master developer. Power On is responsible for designing high-quality networks for electricity, potable water and gas, with gas being removed from future development to help meet the master developer’s net-zero by 2030 targets, and early engagement helps to solve possible issues.”
Communication across all parties
Power on is involved with the master developer and each plot developer throughout the process. From tendering to design, construction to adoption, Power On provides a single point of contact.
Alex Bridge, Senior Project Manager at Power On, says: “We have to ensure the master developer and plot developer loads work with enough capacity for all. With such a long project, buildings can grow, with greater power needs. Changes in how the buildings are heated and cooled will impact the power needs too, and we need to consider things like new technologies and, for example, how electric vehicle usage is likely to change over time.”
High-level considerations
Brent Cross Town is an £8 billion joint venture between Barnet Council and Related Argent. The new neighbourhood will offer 6,700 homes, workspace for 25,000 people, a new high street with restaurants, shops and leisure as well as schools and community facilities. There will be 50 acres of parks, playing fields and state-of-the-art sporting facilities.
Benoit Dufour, Senior Development Manager, Infrastructure Lead Brent Cross Town at Related Argent, says: “Having worked with Power On on our Kings Cross development, we were pleased to be able to appoint the company again for Brent Cross Town. Power On are experts in complex schemes and are known for foresight in solving problems ahead of time. They have worked well with an evolving plan and having a single point of contact has been of huge benefit to us.”
The partnership will be ongoing and will include Power On’s sister companies, GTC and IWNL, with Power On’s parent company, BUUK, adopting all of the electricity and water networks once completed.
