Utility Week

22 | 26TH APRIL - 2ND MAY 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Operations & Assets Utility Week Awards winner case study S howcasing a constant desire for innovation throughout the company, Northumbrian Water was selected first by the judges for the depth and breadth of its innovation culture. The company demonstrated real commitment to improving all aspects of its business, from technical inventions to ecologi- cal campaigns, and even looking outside its boundaries to ven- tures with other organisations. The company says it believes innovation is the process of turn- ing ideas into business value, and that this is everyone's responsibility. To this end, it tries to "engage and empower all our people to be curious, crea- tive and open to ideas from other geographies and sectors". Powered by this philosophy, Northumbrian has been keen to foster discovery at every level, both from employees and multi- agency and collaboration. Inno- vation has come from a broad array of technologies and ini- tiatives, with Northumbrian's Innovation Festival its crowning achievement. One aspect of this culture was the creation of an internal portal, IdeaBase, that allows anyone to put forward ideas to be considered by Northumbrian Water's Innovation Panel. Those accepted are taken to Invest- Quest, an annual dragons' den- Going all out for innovation A constant drive by Northumbrian Water to nurture a culture of innovation has transformed the company, and earned it a Transformation and Innovation Award at last year's Utility Week Awards. "Carbon emissions have been reduced by 30 per cent and bought-in energy costs are reportedly down by £10 million per year." style event, where employees pitch to directors and external specialists for part of a £250,000 fund towards their vision. In further efforts to foster an innovation culture, Northum- brian Water says it has trained all managers to promote innovation and follow the LITE approach, which stands for Lead Improve- ment Through Employees. In terms of innovations to the service Northumbrian Water provides, June 2017 saw the launch of its Utileyes app, which has reduced the need for ini- tial assessment visits by allow- ing operators to view problems through customers' smartphone cameras. The app has been used to validate around 400 leaks so far and Northumbrian Water says it saves £50 per use while halving average repair time to 1.5 days. Pushing towards greater use of renewable energy, Northum- brian Water claims to be the only major water and sewerage company that repurposes 100 per cent of its sewage sludge for energy generation. With this investment in its advanced anaerobic digestion programme, the company exceeded its 2015 target of meeting 20 per cent of its energy needs from renewables two years early. As a result, carbon emissions have been reduced by 30 per cent and bought-in energy costs are Winner's comments NIGEL WATSON, GROUP INFORMATION SERVICES DIRECTOR, NORTHUMBRIAN WATER "We see transformation, innovation and a culture that supports both as the main ways in which we can continue to improve the service we offer our customers. We have invested a lot in transformation over the course of the past four years and we are now starting to see the benefits of that come through. "Driving innovation opens up countless opportunities for us, from working with partners to deliver ground-breaking underground mapping, to helping us accelerate the shift from being reactive to issues, to predicting and resolving things before they become a problem. Our Innovation Festivals have ensured that innovation is engrained in the way we identify and implement change throughout the business, so this award is something that we can all be proud of. "We are also really proud of the culture that has developed here, and that involves being open to future change that has the potential to improve the lives of our customers and the environment that we all live and work in."

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