For most of us the pylon has become virtually invisible, and I imagine many of the naysayers are now focussing their efforts on the increasingly ubiquitous ‘wind turbine’ as a source of more local energy. National Grid, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have understood that pylons will be around for the foreseeable future as a delivery method for electricity across the UK. They have run a competition for architects, designers and students to redesign the pylons of the future and you can see theshortlist of six on the Pylon Design competition website where you can also add comments.

There are more than 88,000 pylons in the UK, including 22,000 on the National Grid’s main transmission network in England and Wales but the familiar steel lattice tower has barely changed since the 1920s. So the competition called for designs for a new generation of pylon; setting a challenge to design a pylon that has the potential to deliver for future generations, whilst balancing the needs of local communities and preserving the beauty of the countryside.
– Pylon Design Competition website

Take a look at the Pylon Design competition website and see what you think – there is quite a variety in the styles and reasons behind the designs. It will be interesting to see which is the winner…