Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 30TH NOVEMBER - 6TH DECEMBER 2018 | 19 Operations & Assets Operations & Assets The Nine Elms project will cost £42 million, but the cable pulling aspect to Wimbledon will cost £5.5 mil- lion and is part of a wider £77 million investment to strengthen the network at Wimbledon and Wandsworth. So far, 10,000m of cable has been installed, with 55,000m scheduled to be installed in total, giving an output of 86MVA. The project is expected to be completed next year. In May, a 320m-long spur tunnel built into an existing 132kV cable tun- nel won the London Institution of Civil Engineers' best infrastructure award. If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, email: paulnewton@fav-house.com Market view A new dawn for water research Simon Tait explains how a wave of new research facilities is set to revolutionise the UK's water infrastructure. T he UK's extensive water network is not only old, but built from a variety of materials over 150 years and constructed to different engineering design standards. This combination of factors presents water compa- nies with numerous complex challenges, not least how to deliver a consistent level of performance at a reason- able economic cost to consumers. Although utility companies are traditionally more cautious than disruptive, given the significant poten- tial health implications of their actions, it's clear that science-led solutions and innovative technologies need to be developed and deployed – and fast. Fortunately, we now have the capability to do exactly that with the opening of the National Distributed Water Infrastructure Facility (NDWIF) at the University of Sheffield. The first facility of its size and scale in Europe, NDWIF will enable full-scale, real-time experimenta- tion on water and sewer pipes and ancillary structures – allowing its users to study deterioration and failure mechanisms; biological, chemical and physical in-pipe processes; flooding and corrosion in a highly controlled environment. By better understanding the processes of deteriora- tion, scientists and engineers can work collaboratively to develop new and innovative inspection and repair techniques. The potential impact in terms of both the sustainability and cost effectiveness of our water and drainage networks is enormous. Of course, NDWIF was not conceived or developed in isolation. The University of Sheffield is proud to be part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastruc- ture & Cities (UKCRIC) – a consortium with a mission to transform infrastructure in the UK and beyond. UKCRIC brings together 13 world-class research insti- tutions with relevant public and private sector partners and has secured over £216 million in grant funding. A set of interlinked national facilities, of which NDWIF is the first to launch, will enable unprecedented collaboration between research institutions and indus- try, delivering innovative solutions to regional, national and international challenges. Never before have UK scientists had access to such a significant body of real-time data on the complete lifecycle of our water distribution and drainage systems. Collaboration and knowledge transfer on this scale has the potential to drive world class innovation, as well as delivering significant value creation. Simon Tait, professor of water engineering, University of Sheffield

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