WET News

WN December 2018

Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine

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News: Murphy gets €80M contract for Stillorgan reservoir. P3 Onsite: How One Severn Trent delivered the Ambergate reservoir renewal project. P14 Insight: Morrison Utility Services on delivering innovation for PR19. P18 WET NEWS WATER AND EFFLUENT TREATMENT NEWS Water workforce lacks diversity DECEMBER 2018 Volume 24 • Issue 12 MUS gets Welsh Water contract Anglian awards leak framework T he UK water sector is less diverse than the wider UK workforce in terms of gender, ethnicity and disability, according to new research. New analysis by Energy & Utility Skills of the UK's Labour Force Sur- vey, released quarterly by O- ce for National Statistics, found that UK water supply and sewerage organisa- tions employ around 60,000 people, and that the proportion of women is less than half of the national aver- age at 20 per cent, compared to 47 per cent across all sectors. Women are well represented in admin/secretarial and customer service occupations (54 and 47 per cent respectively) but are severely under-represented in skilled trades and process, plant and machine operatives, making up just 3 per cent and 5 per cent of the workforce respectively – both of which are 7 percentage points lower than the national average. In managerial, professional and technician occupa- tions, the industry still lags around 20-30 per cent behind the UK aver- age of females in the workforce. In addition, the proportion of people working in the water sector who identify as coming from black, Asian or ethnic minority backgrounds currently stands at just 4 per cent, compared to 15 per cent across all sectors, while the proportion of industry employees identifying as having a disability (12 per cent) is slightly lower than the UK average (15 per cent). Energy & Utility Skills chief executive Nick Ellins said his organi- sation wants to promote more diverse role models and change the way it pitches jobs through the M orrison Utility Services (MUS) has been awarded a four-year water network alliance contract with Welsh Water, with the option to extend by three years. Work will include repair and maintenance of clean water net- work assets, new water main connections, metering, zonal water cleansing, mains renewal and provision of services to devel- opers for non-household custom- ers across the whole of the Welsh Water footprint. Ian Christie, managing director of water services at Welsh Water, said: "We have challenging targets for leakage, interruptions to sup- ply and acceptability of water to our customers that can only be met through adopting a more col- laborative approach. "Bringing key maintenance activities together and establishing joint decision making alongside Morrison Utility Services as our partner to meet our customer expectations is an exciting oppor- tunity for both organisations." John Edwards, Morrison Utility Services executive director, added: "During the tender process, we demonstrated our ability to work in a collaborative manner whilst o¡ ering real value for money and depth of experience." A nglian Water has jointly awarded a £40 million agreement for leak detec- tion products to 10 suppliers. In a change to the way frame- works are usually planned, the £ ve-year contract runs from 2017- 23, covering the remainder of AMP6 and the start of AMP7, which runs from 2020-25. Anglian aims to reduce leakage by 22 per cent in AMP7, and this agreement will ensure the utility has access to as wide a selection of equipment as possible. Sean McCarthy, head of leak- age at Anglian, said: "We already have the lowest level of leakage in the water industry at half the national average. But being ahead of the curve means we're now into the realms of tracking down really hard to find leaks long before they're visible to the naked eye, meaning our leakage targets are now really tough. We're looking into every avenue of engineering available to us to continually be better and technology like this will revolutionise our ability to meet those tough targets." Anglian has been deploying an adapted form of naval technol- ogy from leak detection specialist Primayer and the Hampshire- based company is among those to have secured the contract. Talent Source Network, which details vacancies, apprenticeship schemes and graduate programmes and highlights success stories. "What we're seeing now is we get a better attraction of new people coming in on the apprenticeships, but it's still by no means near 50/50 in terms of gender," Ellins told WET News. "There's lots to be done. Towards the analytical, scienti£ c, "A better balance between soft/ green and hard infrastructure is what we're going to see over the next Œ ve to 10 years" Trevor Bishop, Ofwat, P12 "We're bringing the technical expertise and innovation that flows throughout our business within one united identity" John Homer on NM Group and Nomenca's 'nmcn' rebrand, P10 Trevor Bishop, ¦ Energy & Utility Skills analysis shows room for improvement as sector faces up to recruitment crisis regulatory and management side you tend to get a heavy female pres- ence but it's not the same for hands- on engineering, yet we know there's no competence di¡ erence." The £ gures suggest there is sub- stantial room for improvement as the sector faces up to the recruitment challenges coming up over the next investment cycle, with Energy & Util- ity Skills having predicted last year that 63,000 vacancies will need to be £ lled across the water industry and its supply chain by 2027 due to a combination of retirements, regular sta¡ turnover and new job roles. At present, the proportion of workers aged 24 and younger is only 8 per cent, compared to 12 per cent across all sectors. Ofwat has included the need to consider workforce demands as part of its PR19 methodology for 'resil- ience in the round' and Ellins said: "Water companies have to think for the £ ve years of the price review as well as the longer-term and also think for the supply chain, because a lot of their operations are run by other companies. They have to submit a plan that will give Ofwat conviction that the company is resilient to the labour market around them and any external threats that may arise from rival industries." John Homer on NM Group and

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