Opinion

Powers of recovery - UK Power Networks on lessons from the Holborn services fire

Shared determination and true collaboration were the keys to coping with an unprecedented major event in central London, says UKPN's head of operations Tony Cohen.

Holborn after the fire - Tony Cohen writes

On the 1st April, UK Power Networks was faced with an unprecedented event, one which received widespread media attention, and unfortunately caused inconvenience to businesses, commuters and residents in central London.

I am referring, of course, to the fire on Kingsway. 

While we still work to discover the exact cause of the incident, in the intervening few weeks the work carried out by our staff and contractors to repair the damage caused to our network has, frankly, been nothing short of heroic. 

"It was, and is, the most complex and complicated restoration job that the company has ever undertaken, with work that could have taken up to a year in normal benign conditions, having to be completed within just a few weeks."

Firstly we had to respond, in coordination with the emergency services, extremely quickly so we could ensure the area was safe and to limit further damage to our network. This involved dozens of our vans being redirected from other important work and rushing to the incident, in some cases with police outriders, and as a result some engineers were on site within minutes.

Once there it soon became clear that we were dealing with an event unlike any other that the company has ever faced. Our first step was to isolate the power supply to the affected area, as a precaution, which we did quickly as part of the safety measures installed on our equipment 

As a result of this fast and effective initial response, we were able to restore  power to the majority of the 3,100 customers affected the same day as the incident. For those customers who could not be restored by repairing the network and rerouting power, we quickly installed a combined total of 35 generators to get their power back. These included some of the many theatres, hotels and restaurants who needed their power back ready for the busy Easter weekend. 

Surveying the impact

A further complication was the fact that, until the gas authorities had isolated the supply of gas in to the tunnel, our engineers could not enter that area to make the repairs they needed to. Once this was eventually done we could then finally enter the tunnel and survey the impact.

Click here to read UKPN Kingsway fire blog with more pictures

From the moment we were able to enter the affected area the scale of the damage started to set in, with the fire having damaged 19 High Voltage cables, leading to a significant amount of load on our local network being lost.

It was at this point that our work had to really ramp up, and ramp up it certainly did, with hundreds of UKPN staff, as well as contracted staff, working 24 hours a day, often in difficult conditions to go about making the repairs, including making over 1,400 metres of excavations in the surrounding area. 

"Thankfully incidents such as this are extremely rare, but we always try to be prepared for any eventuality"

The feat of the challenge can possibly be best outlined in explaining the amount of new cabling that we had to lay in the area.

Imagine having to lay cabling stretching the same length as 130 football pitches, in the middle of Central London, in only a matter of a few days. It might sound far fetched, but that is precisely what was required, and precisely what we did. Crucially this all had to be done in record time and we raced against the clock to get this part of central London back to full working order.

Collaboration was key

It was, and is, the most complex and complicated restoration job that the company has ever undertaken, with work that could have taken up to a year in normal benign conditions, having to be completed within just a few weeks. 

"While there is always more to learn, we came through that test"

One of the most important aspects of the repair was the collaborative working between all the different organisations involved. With several utilities having equipment involved, the tunnel and street being owned by the council, and the crucial involvement of the emergency services and transport authorities.

We often share tunnels with other utilities in London, as part of a joint effort to keep road disruption to a minimum and ensure that we make the best use of what can often be limited space afforded to us in the capital. This means we already have a close working relationship with these other groups, and this relationship really came to the fore here. 

Team effort

Despite the challenges of the situation, the way all these organisations worked together to get the area back on track just goes to show the shared determination of all of us to keep London working.

A special mention must also be made to our contract partners, who stepped up to the challenge fantastically, and helped to ensure that every conceivable effort was being made. It shows the importance of having a committed and well aligned supply chain, and that was very clearly demonstrated here. 

Thankfully incidents such as this are extremely rare, but we always try to be prepared for any eventuality, however unlikely, and this event proves the worth of doing that. Our procedures were well and truly tested, and while there is always more to learn, we came through that test to achieve the best possible recovery for our customers. 

Tony Cohen is head of network operations for UK Power Networks' London Region

(Click here to read UKPN's blog with more pictures)