Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 20TH - 26TH JULY 2018 | 25 Operations & Assets What the judges said... The judges praised the clarity of the entry, saying it was well explained and well presented. They said it was "a fantastic example project for the industry," adding: "You can feel the pride in this project." and Northamptonshire, the area Graam serves. Yet with only half the national aver- age rainfall each year, the east of England is the driest region in the UK. The resilience scheme at Graam Water Treatment Works has significantly increased the security of water supplies to customers in the west of their region. Why this approach? The team cites a ground-breaking 2015 trial, challenging the status quo, and collabora- tion across various teams as enabling factors behind the scheme. As with any infrastruc- ture project, Anglian needed to work to halve embodied carbon before seeking agreement to proceed. What were the KPIs? The key performance indicators (KPIs) included halving embodied carbon and con- struction time and avoiding any accidents. The Graam scheme achieved all of these, with no health and safety incidents through- out the entire project. The initial Hannington design was fore- cast to cost £60 million and use 43,648 tonnes of carbon, while the final scheme cost £28 million and used 16,803 tonnes of car- bon, saving a total of 26,845 tonnes of CO2 (62 per cent). How was creativity demonstrated? Collaboration enabled the project team to rethink the original solution. Networks man- ager Karl Porter led the enabling project, which challenged the status quo from the outset as it was a networks expert provid- ing a fresh perspective to managing a supply scheme. Karl also brought infrastructure modeller Kirsty Jones out into the field to get a better understanding of the equipment and opera- tions and how to use them to update the hydraulic model. Working on site at night, Jones was able to take first-hand notes of the system opera- tions. That night testing and data recording enabled the teams to build confidence in the variable speed pumps (VSP) operations. Eventually they were able to operate the VSPs at a level outside the normal design specification and still achieve controlled, stable operations. The reduced carbon and cost combined allowed £40 million to be reinvested to fund more renewables, generating even further efficiencies for the business. Collaboration This scheme demonstrated collaboration across water networks, water supply and asset management. The project was delivered by Anglian Water's @OneAlliance, with deliv- ery partners Mott MacDonald and JN Bentley (now Mott MacDonald Bentley, MMB). In addition to the Anglian Water asset delivery team, the other @OneAlliance partners were Balfour Beatty, Barhale, Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB), Stantec, Skanska and Sweco. Hurdles In addition to having to achieve the 50 per cent carbon-saving KPI, the flow reversal trial itself was fraught with engineering chal- lenges that the teams overcame, while main- taining supplies to customers throughout. A total of 200 man-hours were spent mod- elling the variable speed pumps and equip- ment vital to the success of the 2015 flow reversal trial. The scheme also saw partners JN Bentley carry out one of the largest line stops in its engineering history to enable the company to weld on to a bitumen pipe without having to drain down the sizeable main. The approach of reusing existing equip- ment enabled a cheaper, lower carbon solu- tion to be proposed. The scheme also the Carbon Reduction Project of the Year award at the British Construction Industry Awards. What was the cost of the project? In total the project cost £28 million and took a quarter of a million man-hours to complete the construction of the new reservoir and pumping station and to carry out the numer- ous network adjustments. Winner's comments "The Grafham Resilience is not just a concrete storage reservoir or a scheme to connect existing pipes. It's a case study in 'can do' attitude, challenging the status quo and collaboration across our business. "That attitude is what delivered such a huge reduction in carbon and cost and has ultimately allowed £40 million to be reinvested to fund more renewables. "Yes it takes time and effort to pull off, but look at the results." CHRIS NEWSOME, DIRECTOR OF ASSET MANAGEMENT, ANGLIAN WATER Anglian Water on awards night

• Cover