About
A specialist, deliberately.
JB Substation Design is built around a single specialism: the electrical design of substations, from concept through to a detailed, coordinated package.
The engineer
Fifteen years, one specialism.
Design at JB Substation Design is led by Jack Ball. When you speak to the practice you are speaking to the engineer who will do the work — not an account layer relaying the question to someone else.
Jack Ball, BEng (Hons)
Jack started as an advanced apprentice at ABB in 2011 — the first intake onto the scheme — and stayed eight years, moving from primary systems layout design into technology engineering. That work covered AIS, GIS and hybrid substations from 33kV to 400kV, and put him in front of National Grid, SSE, Northern Powergrid, Electricity North West and the Energy Networks Association on product approvals and technical standards.
Since then he has led cross-discipline design teams from 11kV to 400kV at Hitachi ABB; produced primary design, earthing design and busbar calculations from LV to 400kV at Smith Brothers Contracting; delivered battery storage sites from acquisition through to commissioning at Gore Street Capital; and led design across DNO, ICP, generation and developer substation schemes at Primary Power Consulting, where he also built the design management processes behind a NERS accreditation.
He holds a BEng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering from Staffordshire University, is a member of the IET working towards chartered engineer status, and has acted as principal designer representative on substation projects.
Where the experience comes from
- ABB — apprentice, layout designer, technology engineer
- Hitachi ABB — senior project engineer
- Smith Brothers Contracting — primary electrical design engineer
- Gore Street Capital — project engineer, battery storage
- Primary Power Consulting — senior project engineer
Qualifications and competence
- BEng (Hons) Electrical Engineering, Staffordshire University
- Member of the IET, working towards CEng
- Principal designer representative on substation projects
- IOSH Managing Safely
- AutoCAD 2D and 3D
Why JB exists
Specialist capability, available when it is needed.
Substation design is a specialism. It sits awkwardly inside general electrical consultancies, and it is expensive for clients to carry in-house when the need is project by project.
JB was set up to make that capability available on a project basis — primary design, protection and control, cable design and the design management that holds them together.
The intention is to grow into a small specialist engineering company. Today it is a specialist consultancy, and the work is presented as exactly that: no inflated claims, nothing dressed up to look bigger than it is.
Approach
How the work gets done.
Understand the engineering
Drawings and calculations are outputs. The engineering judgement behind them is the actual product, and it is what makes a design hold up under review.
Design something buildable
Technically correct is the minimum. Practical, installable and proportionate to the project is the standard — checked while changes are still cheap.
Agree the scope, then deliver it
Understanding what is actually required, and producing that. Not padding the package, and not discovering the real scope halfway through.
Talk to the engineer
Questions go to the person doing the work, and get answered. No account layer, no relaying technical queries through someone who has to go and ask.
Focus
What JB is, and is not.
The focus is narrow on purpose. Where a project needs disciplines outside it, those are delivered through trusted partners and coordinated as part of the package.
What it is
- A specialist substation design consultancy
- Electrical design, 11kV to 400kV
- Concept, feasibility and detailed design
- Primary, P&C, cable and design management
What it is not
- A one-stop-shop engineering consultancy
- A civil or structural design practice
- A contractor, installer or commissioning body
- A supplier of plant or materials