WET News

Delivering the UK's fi nest quality GRP water & chemical storage tanks with exceptional service and unbeatable value We now have the largest WRAS APPROVAL in the UK for rectangular one piece potable water storage tanks Range from 45L to 90,000L Precolor Sales Limited Newport Road, Market Drayton, Shropshire, TF9 2AA Tel 01630 657281 www.precolortankdivision.co.uk ALSO IN THIS ISSUE News: Thames Water agrees £200M leakage contracts (P2) Utility Week Live Special: How will regulation need to change? (P16-18) New appointments: Costain and Kier name new CEOs (P24) WET NEWS WATER AND EFFLUENT TREATMENT NEWS Utility companies may have to keep roads free of potholes for ve years APRIL 2019 Volume 25 • Issue 4 Interserve enters administration as plan voted down B&V launches smart maintenance business in UK U tility companies could be held responsible for rec- tifying poor road repairs that lead to potholes or dangerous road surfaces for a five-year period. The Department for Transport (DfT) has launched a consultation on increasing the guarantee on utility rms' roadworks so that, if a pothole forms as a result within ve years, the company must return to bring the road surface back to normal. The proposal would increase the minimum guarantee from the current two years, and would also introduce new standards on asphalt. "Potholes are the biggest enemy for road users and this Government is looking at all options to keep our roads in the best condition," Transport Sec- retary Chris Grayling said. "Road surfaces can be made worse by utility companies, so imposing higher standards on repairs will help keep roads pothole-free for longer." The consultation will be used to update the 'Speci cation for the Reinstatement of Openings in Highways', which was last published in 2010. The new code will incorporate innovations in reinstatement techniques and materials that have been introduced since it was published, including large diam- eter coring and micro trenching, which the DfT says could reduce a ve-day job to one taking less than a day. It said the proposal to permit alternative materials is expected to have the most signi cant eŽ ect on compliance as, while using asphalt with a high bitumen content is more expensive, it is easier to compact and therefore less prone to potholing. One tier 2 contractor told WET News: "We nd the contractors, councils and utilities we work for won't give us enough budget to use the best materials, which would last longer. It's a false economy, but no one listens. "There's a growing enthusi- asm for rubberised tarmac made from recycled tyres, and there's a firm making plastic tarmac rather than fossil element-based. That's all good stuŽ , but immedi- ate budgets often quash any ambitions to use the best Totex product. "No doubt the contractors will be expected to absorb the extra costs within the already slim rates. We aim and want to do the best possible job we can, but have to apply economics of viability to material costs." S t r e e t Wo r k s U K c h i e f I nterserve has entered admin- istration a• er shareholders voted down its rescue plan. The company said it remained "business as usual for employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders" and that it "con- tinues to focus on providing an excellent service". Interserve had required a 50 per cent share of the vote to pass its plan but, with largest share- holder Coltrane Asset Manage- ment making clear its opposition, 59.38 per cent voted against. A• er the vote, the group was sold to a newly incorporated company controlled by its lenders and EY was appointed to handle the administration. The company said the new ownership would deliver "a strong balance sheet, competitive nancial structure and a funda- mentally solid foundation from which to deliver on its long-term strategy". It added that it was imple- menting a deleveraging transac- tion involving the equitisation of approximately £485 million of existing debt and £110 million of additional liquidity. Interserve Group CEO Debbie White said: "Interserve is fun- damentally a strong business, and with a competitive nancial platform in place we see signi - cant opportunities ahead as a best-in-class partner to the public and private sector." B lack & Veatch has launched a smart maintenance busi- ness to support utility cli- ents in the UK, with an initial focus on water. The new oŽ ering builds upon the company's technology-led asset management consulting experience – and its programme management, logistics and deliv- ery expertise – to create digitally enabled onsite maintenance teams. "The big development is that our asset management support is typically delivered at the stra- tegic level; smart maintenance is about helping clients imple- ment those strategies on the ground," Mark Malcolm, Black & Veatch Europe's director for the new business, said. "We have designed and con- structed many of our client's assets, and developed strategies to m a n age t h e m , s o we a re uniquely placed to help clients maintain them in the most e§ - cient, eŽ ective manner." The company said smart main- tenance entails combining estab- lished technology-driven main- tenance methodologies and smarter instrumentation, control and automation technology. This will be enabled by Black & Veatch's own data analytics capabilities and visualisation dashboards, and the capabilities of its new arti cial intelligence and machine learning strategic partner EMAGIN. executive Clive Bairsto said the new guidance is welcome but that the increased guarantee p e r i o d p r o v i d e s c a u s e f o r concern. "Utilities and their contractor partners are committed to under- taking work to the highest stand- ards, with the latest published gures showing that the perfor- mance of utilities is signi cantly higher than local authorities in relation to the quality of reinstate- ments," Bairsto said. "However, we do not believe that proposals to increase guar- antee periods are necessary or will be eŽ ective. The Government should not take forward propos- als unless they are supported by a strong evidence base. "Utilities and their contractor partners play a vital role in deliv- ering and maintaining vital "Pipe-pulling technology o‹ ers the innovation Ofwat demands as well as reduced cost" Simon Drain, Kobus, P8 "It's been very, very easy to bring the brand back to the market" Paul Bresnan, MWH Treatment, P10-11 ¨ Department for Transport suggests updated code will drive more efficient roadworks practices infrastructure which powers the economy, and it is crucial that a n y n e w r e g u l a t i o n s a r e proportionate." The Government has launched a series of measures in recent times to try to reduce disruption for road users, including funding the development of tiny robotic devices that can nd and repair cracks in underground pipes, and the Lane Rental scheme, which allows local authorities to charge utilities up to £2,500 a day to dig up busy roads. In January, the DfT announced that it was to provide £23 million to fund real-world tests of new road surface materials and pot- hole repair techniques, which will include expanding tests of plastic roads. Made by recycling waste plas- tic into small pellets that are added to the asphalt mix in place of crude oil-based bitumen, plas- tic roads are designed to oŽ er greater flexibility due to the material's properties, which should help to reduce cracks and potholes. The DfT has also said it is still working on a plan, announced by Grayling last year, to "create a default that you have to look rst at laying the utilities under the pavements rather than under the roads" to reduce potholes. the market" Paul Bresnan, MWH Treatment, DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT Why arti– cial intelligence and machine learning solutions are set to have a signi– cant impact on the sector (P5-7) Severn Trent Water reveals details of its rst contractors for AMP7 period S evern Trent has announced the details of the rst con- tractors it intends to use to deliver its £2 billion investment in its construction projects for AMP7. The company has changed the way that it intends to carry out the work between 2020 and 2025. It will bring the design work in-house, including the creation of a new specialist design team, and will work with more construc- tion contractors than previously. The framework has been struc- tured into four de ned lots, with lot 1 representing the capital deliv- ery design and build frameworks and lots 2, 3 and 4 forming three separate capital delivery build-only frameworks. Amey, Costain, J. Murphy & Sons, Mott MacDonald Bentley, MWH Treatment, nmcn and Volk- erStevin & Atkins JV have secured places on lot 1, while Barhale Limited & Doosan Enpure, CoŽ ey Construction, CPC Civils, Forkers, GEDA Construction, JN Bentley, Kier Integrated Services, MWH Treatment, nmcn and VolkerStevin are on lot 2. Lots 3 and 4 have yet to be revealed. Severn Trent capital delivery and commercial director Helen Miles said: "Getting fast-track sta- tus from Ofwat means that we've been able to make a really early start on our planning for AMP7. "We now have 12 months where we can de ne the key projects we need to deliver for our customers, which we can do alongside our new construction partners. "We are delighted we now have our partners in place for lots 1 and 2, and this is a really exciting time for us as we look at new, more efficient ways to invest for the future to make our services even better." Several contractors expressed their delight at securing a place on the framework. Amey will be responsible for the design and build of water and wastewater assets above and below ground and chief executive Andy Milner said: "Ensuring an excellent customer experience, protecting the local environment and sup- porting the community in which we work is at the heart of the work we do, and is an ethos we share with Severn Trent." John Homer, nmcn chief execu- tive, said: "We look forward to working collaboratively to deliver increased efficiencies through innovative solutions and digitised transformation." Costain CEO Andrew Wyllie said the news was "testament to our track record of performance on AMP6 for efficient and safe delivery. On this framework we will provide technology-led solu- tions to help Severn Trent as they commit signi cant investment to ensuring the provision of a resilient water future for households and businesses in the Midlands and mid-Wales." "No doubt the contractors will be expected to absorb the extra costs within the already slim rates"

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