The north of Scotland is entering a new era of electricity infrastructure investment – driven by the need to reduce our dependency on imported gas, with the geopolitical shocks and consequent price volatility that exposes us to – by upgrading the UK’s transmission network to support homegrown clean power. That is the clear pathway to achieving energy security and affordability, for the benefit of everyone who lives here.
At SSEN Transmission – headquartered in Perth – delivering this investment responsibly means thinking beyond pylons, substations and cables. It means asking what a lasting, positive legacy should look like for the communities hosting this nationally significant infrastructure.
Housing is central to that legacy.
Through our landmark housing strategy, SSEN Transmission is taking an industry‑leading approach to addressing housing pressures in the north of Scotland, while ensuring the successful delivery of one of the largest infrastructure investment programmes the region has ever seen. By aligning workforce accommodation needs with long‑term community benefit, the strategy is designed to leave behind high‑quality homes that continue to serve local people long after construction activity is complete.
The scale of investment required to upgrade the electricity network brings with it significant demand for a skilled construction workforce, often in rural and remote areas where housing supply is already under pressure. At the same time, many communities in the north of Scotland transmission area that we serve face long‑standing challenges around the availability of affordable, good‑quality homes.
SSEN Transmission’s housing strategy recognises that these challenges are interconnected. The strategy seeks to turn workforce accommodation into a catalyst for permanent housing delivery, developed in partnership with councils, housing associations, developers and the Scottish Government.
The ambition is clear: to support the delivery of 1,000 homes across the north of Scotland as a direct legacy of investment in the electricity transmission network.
Our housing strategy, first announced in autumn 2024, sets out how SSEN Transmission will work collaboratively to identify sites and delivery models where housing built to support construction workers can transition into homes for local communities at the end of projects.
This includes:
- Supporting enabling and preparatory works that unlock stalled or complex housing sites
- Working with registered social landlords and developers to accelerate delivery
- Ensuring a mix of affordable, social and private housing to reflect local needs
- Aligning housing delivery with regional development plans and community priorities
By embedding housing considerations into infrastructure planning at an early stage, the strategy represents a shift in how major network investment can contribute to wider social and economic outcomes.
Since launching the strategy, SSEN Transmission has moved from commitment to action, announcing a series of housing projects that demonstrate how the approach is being translated into bricks and mortar.
Last November, the business announced its first major housing agreements, supporting the delivery of almost 100 new homes in Stornoway and 47 in Brechin. These projects marked the first tangible steps in the delivery our housing ambition, and were recognised by Scotland’s then Deputy First Minister during a visit to Lewis, highlighting the importance of the initiative at a national level.
Further announcements have followed as the strategy gathers momentum.
For example, we have agreed a landmark deal with the Springfield Group that will support the construction of around 300 new homes – the largest single-developer package agreed so far – across six different sites in the Highlands, Aberdeenshire and Moray, helping to meet pressing local housing needs while underpinning long-term energy infrastructure investment.
In February, we announced a partnership with The Highland Council in a refurbishment project to bring 18 long-term empty properties in Wick back into use as modern, energy-efficient homes. And The Highland Council and SSEN Transmission entered into a major funding agreement last month to support the purchase and development of a strategically important site at Longman – Harbour Road in Inverness. The agreement includes a capital contribution of more than £2.7m from SSEN Transmission, enabling the purchase and progress on a mixed‑use development designed to bring long-term community benefit.
We will initially use the site as accommodation for workers for a period of five years, before handing over to The Highland Council. The purchase of the Longman-Harbour Road site will increase capacity for housing development, as part of a wider action plan to address the Highland Housing Challenge.
Together, these projects – and others that will be announced in due course – show how our housing strategy is being applied flexibly across different locations, responding to local circumstances while remaining grounded in a consistent commitment to long‑term benefit.
The housing strategy sits alongside SSEN Transmission’s wider programme of £29 billion planned investment to 2030 to transform the electricity network in the north of Scotland – enabling the homegrown low‑carbon power needed to meet clean power and energy security targets for Scotland and the UK.
But it also represents a major opportunity to drive local economic growth, create jobs and deliver wider social value.
By helping to alleviate housing constraints, the strategy contributes to more sustainable construction activity. Crucially, it also ensures that communities see lasting benefits from hosting infrastructure that serves the whole country, in the form of a housing legacy that helps more people to work and raise a family in the place they wish to live.
The aim is not simply to build homes, but to work with partners to get the right housing in the right places, for the long term.
A defining feature of the housing strategy is its emphasis on partnership. Delivery depends on close collaboration with local authorities, housing associations, developers and government, as well as engagement with communities themselves.
This collaborative approach has already been reflected in projects announced to date, where councils and housing partners have played a central role in shaping proposals and ensuring alignment with local housing needs and development plans.
It also reflects a broader commitment by SSEN Transmission to social value, including being the first business to sign the Highland Social Value Charter, which includes commitments around housing investment, the awarding of contracts to local businesses, and wider community benefit.
As the business moves forward with the strategy, we are locking in housing sites to enable the delivery of 1,000 homes, progressing to main works funding. and seeing the start of construction on sites.
We are looking forward to handing over our first units in the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire through turnkey solutions with housebuilders.
And our commitment to social value is illustrated in the commitment that half of all homes in the Highlands will be sold to the local authority at a discount by developers on exit, delivering additional affordable housing for the region.
As the electricity transmission network is upgraded, our housing strategy demonstrates how infrastructure delivery can go further – strengthening communities and providing long‑term benefit for the places we serve.
We hope that our commitment to help address the region’s housing challenges will inspire others in the energy sector and elsewhere to consider how they can contribute to the delivery of more much-needed homes.
SSEN Transmission’s approach may be seen as a model for how major infrastructure investment can deliver shared value – for communities, for the economy, and for a clean power future.
Richard Jennings is SSEN Transmission’s Housing Strategy Manager