SSE’s Large Capital Delivery business is investing more than £2 billion by 2028 to improve network reliability and expand capacity across its electricity distribution networks, particularly in the north of Scotland and central southern England. This investment is critical to meeting rising demand and enabling future growth, requiring a land strategy that is robust, efficient and sensitive to landowners and communities.

Freedom’s Land and Environment service was appointed to support this programme by delivering specialist land services that enabled timely project progression while maintaining positive stakeholder relationships. Our approach centred on early, open and constructive engagement with landowners, adopting a flexible and respectful attitude to access and ensuring that initial design development considered the needs of landowners, communities and the wider environment.

Digital innovation played a key role in supporting delivery at scale. We deployed specially designed software to rapidly identify land ownership and streamline engagement, enabling efficient collaboration across project teams. Secure, robust systems were used to manage land data, ensuring information was accessible, accurate and consistently maintained throughout the programme.

A strong emphasis was placed on communication management, with comprehensive records maintained for all verbal, written and email correspondence. This ensured that engagement remained transparent, traceable and based on up‑to‑date information, supporting informed decision‑making and ongoing stakeholder confidence.

We delivered a full suite of land information services, including the collection and management of ownership and rights data, design optioneering support, and project‑enabling works. Our GIS and CAD capabilities underpinned this activity, providing high‑quality mapping and spatial intelligence to support route development and on‑site delivery.

All engagement outputs, including access agreements, wayleaves and Heads of Terms, were recorded and managed through structured systems aligned with Registers of Scotland. Automated land ownership schedules, progress dashboards and communication tools provided real‑time visibility for the client, with GIS data accessible both on site and through hard‑copy plans where required.

Through this integrated, digitally enabled approach, we supported SSE’s Large Capital Delivery programme with clarity, confidence and pace, helping to unlock land access and enable critical network investment.