A share of £2.37 million has been awarded to 14 projects that will help aid skills development, support the culture of the region, or help alleviate fuel poverty. 

The recipients include:  

• Tighean Innse Gall – £393,883.35 - Reducing fuel poverty in the Western Isles by researching local housing types and designing practical, tailored energy efficiency solutions for island homes. 
• Changeworks – £169,666 - Delivering targeted support to park home residents experiencing fuel poverty across the north of Scotland through the Warmer, Greener Park Home Communities initiative. 
• Aberdeen Cyrenians – £149,362 - Supporting NorthBridge, a new hub providing people facing redundancy with support to develop skills, find jobs, and enhance wellbeing.
• For You Training (Farmer Jones Academy) – £149,180 - Developing a community innovation campus in Tain, bringing new opportunities in education, tourism and sustainability to the Highlands.
• Growing2gether – £199,379 - Expanding a programme that strengthens the mental health, life skills and qualifications of disadvantaged young people in Moray and the Highlands.
• Fisheries Management Scotland – £149,949.44 - Through the Working with Rivers project, enabling seven rivers and fisheries trusts across the north of Scotland to run paid nature-based training placements that build skills while restoring local river environments.
• Rock Trust – £201,217 - Supporting a new youth housing hub in Perth delivering specialist employability, wellbeing and housing support for young people facing homelessness. 
• Helm Training – £49,934 Funding Anchors Up, a programme guiding disadvantaged youth in Dundee through personal development, group learning and routes into training or employment. 
• Enable Scotland – £226,993 - Expanding One Digital, offering accessible, accredited digital skills training to disabled people across the north of Scotland, tackling digital exclusion and building confidence and employability. 
• New Start Highland – £95,327 - Establishing the Highland Hospitality and Cookery School, providing skills, training and qualifications for people facing barriers to work in the hospitality sector. 
• Eden Court Highlands – £65,742 - Delivering Film Futures, a creative programme helping young refugees and asylum seekers in the Highlands build confidence, employability and community connections. 
• Dundee Industrial Heritage SCIO – £40,000 - Supporting the transformation of Discovery Point – home of the Royal Research Ship Discovery – into a modern learning and visitor hub for future generations. 
• The Islands Book Trust – £141,000 - Creating a shared digital hub to expand skills, preserve island heritage and support volunteer-led heritage organisations across Scotland’s islands communities, from its base in Lewis.  
• Comann Eachdraidh Eirisgeidh – £340,895 - Redeveloping the historic former Eriskay school into a sustainable heritage centre and community hub – offering training and wellbeing programmes for communities across Uist, Barra and the wider Outer Hebrides. 

The latest round of awards from the Regional Community Benefit Fund brings the total investment in local initiatives to over £4m, building on the initial awards made last year. 

These awards are among the first delivered as part of SSEN Transmission’s commitment to provide more than £100m in community benefit across the north of Scotland, enabled by its investment in new electricity infrastructure that supports the country’s clean power and energy security ambitions. 

Funding will continue to be distributed through a series of regional and local funds linked to existing and proposed projects, ensuring positive impacts and a lasting legacy for local communities.

Independent chair of the Regional Community Benefit Fund, Peter Peacock, said: “We’re proud to support these outstanding organisations as they deliver real, lasting benefits for communities across the north of Scotland. Each project reflects the hard work of those building strong, resilient places – whether through skills and employability, improving local facilities, or helping to tackle fuel poverty.

“We had a high level of interest in the second round of the fund, with a very strong standard of applications, and our thanks go to all who applied. We now look forward to seeing the positive impact of this funding across the region.”  
 
Gary Hughes, economic development manager at SSEN Transmission, added: “These awards show our commitment to ensuring that critical electricity infrastructure delivers real benefits for local communities, especially in remote and island areas.

“Between our regional fund and the local funds we are creating, more than £100m will be made available for community benefit across the north of Scotland. This is just one of the positive legacies our investment is delivering as we work to strengthen energy security and support the transition to clean power.” 

Warmer, Greener Park Home Communities

With the funding, Changeworks will deliver Warmer, Greener Park Home Communities, a targeted two-year initiative supporting fuel-poor park home residents across the SSEN region.

Delivered in partnership with the Scottish Confederation of Park Home Residents Associations (SCOPHRA), the project will address the unique and often overlooked energy challenges faced by people living in park homes. These are typically single-storey prefabricated homes that are poorly insulated, reliant on expensive fossil fuels, and frequently excluded from mainstream energy efficiency support.

Josiah Lockhart, chief executive of Changeworks, said: “We’re delighted to receive support from SSEN Transmission’s Regional Fund for this important project. This is the first time Changeworks has been funded by SSEN Transmission, and we are very pleased to begin what we hope will be a longlasting partnership.

“This funding will enable us to work closely with park home communities across the SSEN region, providing support to ensure residents have access to the advice and resources they need to live in affordably warm homes. It also allows us, together with SCOPHRA and local partners, to build stronger community capacity so that the benefits of this work are sustained well beyond the life of the project.”

Gordon Morrison, chair at SCOPHRA, added: “SCOPHRA is delighted to be working in partnership with Changeworks to investigate and deliver bespoke energy advice and solutions tailored specifically to the needs of park home residents.

“Too often, these households struggle to access guidance that reflects the unique realities of park home living — from the routes available to secure affordable utilities to the practicalities of installing solutions that work with park home structures and on‑site infrastructure. 

“This project will not only help address those challenges, but it will also ensure that SCOPHRA can continue sharing clear, relevant energy‑efficiency messaging long after the project concludes, supported by our 10 Community Connector volunteers. 

“We are extremely grateful to SSEN Transmission’s Regional Fund for enabling this important work. Their support allows us to carry out the detailed investigation needed to develop a robust plan that identifies where improvements can be made — and, we hope, unlock future funding to deliver meaningful change for park home communities.”