ENERGY
CHANGING THE
Teesworks – located on the south bank of the River Tees.
CONVERSATION Why energy infrastructure is key to Tees Valley’ s industrial future
Across the region, the rules behind major industrial investment are changing. It’ s no longer just about land availability, planning support or transport links.
Increasingly, the deciding factor is energy.
For energy-intensive industries looking to decarbonise and expand, the key question has become simple: can they access reliable, flexible and low-carbon power at scale, and with certainty?
This is where Teesworks is helping redefine the conversation.
As Europe’ s largest brownfield site, Teesworks spans 2,500 acres within the wider South Tees Development Corporation estate.
Located on the south bank of the River Tees, it sits at the heart of the UK’ s largest Freeport and is already attracting significant interest from global investors looking for space to grow in low-carbon industries.
But what is increasingly setting Teesworks apart is not just its size or location- it’ s the way infrastructure is being designed to support modern industry from the outset.
Rather than treating infrastructure as something that is delivered after investment arrives, Teesworks is building it in parallel with development.
This includes ports, logistics connections, land remediation and, critically, energy.
At the centre of this approach is Steel River Power, the company that owns and operates the established private wire network that distributes power directly from National Grid to occupiers across the Teesworks estate.
With mass capital investment underway and contracted additional capacity from National Grid, Steel River Power is developing what will become the UK’ s largest private wire network.
In simple terms, this allows power to be distributed at a scale, quality and immediacy not typically seen in the UK, giving businesses access to dependable, resilient power connections that unlock growth and underpin investment decisions in the region. For investors, that matters. Manufacturing, advanced engineering, clean energy production and large-scale digital infrastructure all depend on high levels of power availability, delivered at speed with high levels of resilience.
Any uncertainty around grid capacity or connection timelines can delay or even deter investment.
Through investment into the expansion of the private network the Teesworks site has removed those barriers.
Andy Laundon, operations director at Steel River Power, said:“ For many businesses, energy is now one of the first questions in any investment decision, not an afterthought.
“ Teesworks and Steel River Power anticipated the criticality of key utilities including power and water over four years ago, parallelling utility delivery with land preparation and planning to provide occupiers with the certainty, confidence and conviction to invest at scale in the region.”
Traditional grid models were not designed for the size and speed of today’ s industrial transition. As demand for electricity increases( particularly from electrified manufacturing and low-carbon technologies), pressure on existing systems is growing.
For regions like the Tees Valley, the ability to offer infrastructure at a pace ahead of that change is becoming a key competitive advantage.
Teesworks is increasingly being viewed as an example of how that can be done in practice.
By anticipating future industrial requirements and integrating utility, transport, port access and land preparation into a single coordinated development, it creates a joined-up environment where investment decisions become simpler and faster. For the wider economy, this matters. Projects that can be delivered more efficiently are more likely to attract global capital, create skilled jobs and support longterm supply chain growth across the region.
As the UK accelerates its transition to a lower-carbon economy, industrial sites that can offer this level of integrated infrastructure will be best placed to succeed.
Teesworks is proud to be one of them – not just as a development site, but as a platform designed to unlock the next phase of industrial growth in the Tees Valley.
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