SSEN Transmission and Balfour Beatty teams support Fyvie Guide House through volunteering effort

7 May 2026

Image: SSEN Transmission and Balfour Beatty staff outside Fyvie Guide House (credit: SSEN Transmission)

Teams from SSEN Transmission and our contractor, Balfour Beatty, have helped put the finishing touches to a refurbishment project that is revitalising a well‑used community facility in Aberdeenshire.

Staff from both organisations spent several days at Fyvie Guide House, carrying out a wide range of tasks including preparing areas for painting, cleaning and tidying internal spaces, and painting walls, woodwork, doors and benches throughout the building.

Image: Brightening up a picnic bench (credit: SSEN Transmission)

In total, 22 volunteers took part, helping to prepare the facility for its official reopening later this month following a major extension project that has been more than a decade in the making.

Fyvie Guide House is a charity organisation that provides day and residential facilities primarily for Girlguiding groups, as well as other youth organisations. The charity aims to give children and young people opportunities that promote resilience and wellbeing through residential stays, supporting its wider vision of an equal world where girls can be happy, safe and fulfil their potential.

Image: Project staff carried out a wide range of tasks including preparing areas for painting (credit: SSEN Transmission)

Morag Reidford, Chairperson of the Fyvie Guide House Management Committee, added:

“The support from the volunteers made a significant difference to the project, allowing us to redirect funding towards other essential maintenance within the house and achieve more overall.

Thanks to the number of volunteers involved, work that would normally have taken weeks was completed in just a few days, helping the project move much more quickly towards its final stage.

There was a real sense of camaraderie between the teams from SSEN Transmission and Balfour Beatty, and we are extremely grateful for their time, effort and commitment.

We look forward to welcoming all those involved back to our open day, where they will be able to see how their contribution helped bring the project to completion.”

Kirsty McNamara, SSEN Transmission’s Community Liaison Manager, was among those who took part in the volunteering effort. She said:

“At SSEN Transmission, we are committed to making a positive difference in the communities where our projects are based, and volunteering days like these really demonstrate that ambition.

Working alongside colleagues from Balfour Beatty, our volunteer team worked incredibly well together, supporting one another, sharing skills and getting stuck in to whatever task was needed.

There was genuine interest in Fyvie Guide House, with everyone determined to do their best and help put the finishing touches on this major refurbishment project. We are proud to support projects like this and to play a positive role in the places where we work.”

Image: The team from SSEN Transmission and Balfour Beatty volunteered over several days, making improvements as part of the refurbishment project at Fyvie Guide House (credit: SSEN Transmission)

Natalie Williams, Project Communications Officer at Balfour Beatty, added:

"Through volunteering like this, Balfour Beatty teams are able to give something practical back to the communities that support our work. But what made this volunteering effort so special was how personal it felt.

Many of us live and work locally and have been a part of youth groups growing up, so being able to support Fyvie Guide House feels very personal. Stepping away from our usual roles, getting stuck in and working together on something that will benefit young people for years to come is incredibly rewarding, and it’s something our team can feel really proud of."