THE National Grid is celebrating millions of hours of work that have gone into the ground-breaking Hinkley Connection Project with a 'world-class' safety record.

Since construction began in 2018, a total of four million hours have been poured into the project to connect homes and businesses to new sources of energy, including Hinkley Point C near Bridgwater.

The Hinkley Connection Project stretches 57km from Bridgwater to Avonmouth, and will connect six million homes and businesses to new sources of low carbon, homegrown energy.

Key achievements during the project's existence so far include constructing 116 new T-design pylons, removing 249 existing pylons, opening a new section of the Strawberry Line path, and laying 8.5km of underground cables beneath the Mendip Hills.

Construction is on track to be completed in 2025.

Steven Haskayne, project director for National Grid, said: “The total number of working hours demonstrates the scale of the project and what it takes to deliver the critical infrastructure that will build future resilience into the network and support the UK’s net zero by 2050 ambitions.

"I’m proud of every moment that each team member has dedicated to the Hinkley Connection Project, and what we’ve collectively achieved so far.”

“Even more important for me is the fact that we’ve achieved all this whilst maintaining the highest safety standards.

"No programme milestone is more important than ensuring everyone gets home safely to their families at the end of the day.”