GDL gets shovelling at Torness: earthworks and ground improvement lens for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Ground Developments Ltd has started bulk earthworks and ground improvement for Metlen Energy & Metals at the Torness HVDC converter station, delivering around 350,000m³ of earthworks and soil modification on a geotechnically constrained coastal site. The company is using a large plant fleet including a new Komatsu PC700 excavator and Wirtgen WR240x stabilisation mixer to execute the ground treatment. The converter station forms part of the Eastern Green Link 1 project, a 196km subsea HVDC link between Torness and Hawthorn Pit rated at 2GW, connecting offshore transmission to the UK onshore grid.
Technical Brief
- Months of early contractor involvement allowed GDL to iterate the platform design against site geotechnical constraints.
- Detailed pre-construction design work was completed before mobilisation, reducing design-change risk during bulk earthworks.
- GDL’s Komatsu PC700 provides high-production excavation capacity suited to large-scale cut/fill and rehandling.
- Use of a Wirtgen WR240x stabilisation mixer indicates in situ soil modification rather than wholesale import/export.
- Metlen Energy & Metals is delivering the Torness converter station on behalf of SP Energy Networks and National Grid.
- West Lothian-based GDL is acting as specialist earthworks and ground improvement contractor within Metlen’s delivery team.
- EGL1’s 196 km subsea HVDC link between Torness and Hawthorn Pit is rated at 2 GW transfer capacity.
- Power rating equates to supply for roughly two million homes, driving stringent reliability requirements for the converter foundations.
Our Take
Among the 187 Infrastructure stories in our database, very few involve subsea HVDC assets of around 2 GW, so Eastern Green Link 1 positions SP Energy Networks and National Grid Electricity Transmission at the upper end of UK grid‑reinforcement schemes by capacity.
A 196 km subsea HVDC link between Torness in East Lothian and Hawthorn Pit in County Durham effectively makes this a cross‑regional civil and marine package, which typically complicates consenting and logistics compared with the more common onshore cable projects in our coverage.
Ground Developments Ltd’s role at the Torness converter station suggests that specialist ground engineering is being brought in early, a pattern seen in other large UK grid projects where challenging coastal ground conditions can drive programme risk if not front‑loaded.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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