A creative connector is carrying out highly critical upgrades to the electricity network in the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.
Lucinda Tindale, lives near Darlington and is a Wayleave Officer at Northern Powergrid and has been in the role for around five years.
After getting her master’s degree in Rural Estate and Land Management, Lucinda worked for rural country estates but was ready for a new challenge that saw her thinking differently and working creatively.
That’s when she saw an advert for a Wayleave Officer in the New Connections team at the region’s largest electricity distribution network operator.
This means the 34-year-old obtains any required legal consents, discusses access requirements and gains environmental approvals for any planned work happening across the Northern Powergrid network.
She works with local landowners, councils, businesses, and contractors throughout the project to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Even when a storm hits, Lucinda and her team sometimes are out in the field as front runners, these are the people that identity the apparatus on the network which require repairs and feed that back to engineers to they can start work as quickly as possible.
Then when the storm passes through, Lucinda often finds herself working with partners from across the region to ensure the damage compensation and legal requirements for the works are backdated, making sure nothing gets missed.
Every day can be completely different, because every job Lucinda works on is different, and her background in rural land management often comes in handy.
She said “With new connections, you always know what’s going on in the area, we work so closely with so many different organisations you can see redevelopment of the region in real time.
“We are out on site quite a bit, so it’s not like most office jobs because one day you are looking at planning permissions, the next you are on a field with a farmer discussing how you are going to get huge pieces of equipment on their land.
“I’ve worked on some really big projects in my time at Northern Powergrid, like the TransPennine Route Upgrade, it’s going to benefit so many people’s lives once it’s complete and I feel proud that I contributed.
“One of the best things about my job is definitely the people, we come from such a range of backgrounds that when I’ve got a problem, I know I can lean on the team and vice versa - nothing is ever too much trouble.”
Richard Collinson, Head of Operational Services, said “Our Wayleaves team is filled with people from so many different backgrounds and expertise, they always know the right people to speak to.
“People skills are their bread and butter because it’s all about relationships and stakeholder management, some of our projects span months and years, so the people involved change as the project moves along.
“Wayleaves is one of those hidden roles at Northern Powergrid that people wouldn’t really be sure what they do, but without them projects can’t be delivered.”
Feeling powered-up and inspired? Northern Powergrid is recruiting now for Power Engineer apprenticeship programme.
Applications are open until 2 March 2025, with an expected start date of 15 September 2025.
You can apply to via northernpowergrid.com/careers
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