Posts

Paul Brothwood on Exploring Recycled Plastic Electricity Poles

Paul Brothwood on Exploring Recycled Plastic Electricity Poles
At National Grid Worcester Depot, we replace around 1,000 wooden electricity poles each year. In my role as Operations Manager at National Grid Electricity Distribution, I see the work that goes into keeping that programme moving. I’m Paul Brothwood, and one of the ideas I am helping explore through the Sustainability Leadership Alliance is whether plastic waste from our own operations could become a material for the poles we need. Getting hands-on with wooden electricity poles. Through the Sustainability Leadership Alliance, we are exploring whether recycled plastic could provide an additional source of poles for the future. It starts with a practical problem. Suitable wooden poles are becoming harder to secure, and replacing them is a continuing part of maintaining the network. Each job depends on having the right materials available, alongside the people, equipment and planning needed to complete the work safely. The timescales behind a wooden pole are striking. UK Power Networks de...
Post a Comment
Read more

Paul Brothwood: From Banking to Operations, 20 Years of Leadership Lessons

Paul Brothwood: From Banking to Operations, 20 Years of Leadership Lessons
By Paul Brothwood What two decades across banking, public service, construction and electricity distribution taught me about leading people and serving customers. Paul Brothwood with colleagues from the Sustainability Leadership Alliance at a net zero event I am Paul Brothwood, and my working life began in banking in 2004. I joined HSBC as a Management Trainee on its exclusive Graduate Scheme. The programme normally took three years. I completed it in two. By the time I moved into electricity distribution in 2024, two decades had passed since I first walked into the bank. The lessons that stayed with me were about setting clear expectations, helping people grow, understanding risk and giving customers a reason to trust you. Those lessons came from different jobs and different teams. I worked across retail, commercial, wealth management and private banking, then moved through public service and construction before taking an operations role. Across each sector, clear leadership helped te...
Post a Comment
Read more

Paul Brothwood: From the European Parliament to the United Nations

Paul Brothwood: From the European Parliament to the United Nations
How parliamentary work on water and fisheries shaped my approach to sustainability By Paul Brothwood I'm Paul Brothwood. Before I became an Operations Manager in electricity distribution and a Chartered Environmentalist, I worked as a Chief of Staff in the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. My work brought me into discussions about water security, hydropower, fisheries and natural resources. At the time, I did not think of those assignments as the start of my sustainability work. I was dealing with practical policy questions, often in contested political settings. Looking back, I can see how they shaped the way I weigh evidence, infrastructure choices and their effects on people and the environment. That period also took me to Dakhla in Western Sahara and to Somaliland, where I became involved in the case of poet Abdirahman Abees. In 2019, I spoke as a petitioner to the United Nations General Assembly's Fourth Committee on Western Sahara. These experiences were different, b...
Post a Comment
Read more