Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1157210
8 | SEPTEMBER 2019 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk The Talk: Opinion PAUL MACFARLANE, HR DIRECTOR FOR UTILITIES, AMEY Outsourcing the skills supply problem W e are fortunate to work in an industry that supplies services fundamental to the basic needs of every member of our society. It's an industry increasingly on a mission to make our world more sustainable by conserving the precious resources needed for life and by enabling a transformation in our energy supply and water usage habits. However, to achieve this vision of a sustainable future, it's only right that we address the challenges presented by an ageing workforce and loss of knowledge that will result when they retire. Ofwat's 'resilience in the round' concept places an increased focus on developing resilient people plans. And with asset owners largely depending on their supply chain to build, maintain and enhance their networks, it's surprising to see that investment in apprenticeships in the Tier 1 and 2 supply chain averages just 1.5 per cent of the workforce – one quarter of the level of asset owners. With short procurement cycles and com- MARTIN LAMBLEY, PRODUCT MANAGER FOR STORMWATER MANAGEMENT, WAVIN Will SfA8 make as big a splash as hoped? The eighth edition of Sewers for Adoption (SfA8), titled A Design and Construction Guide for Developers, comes into effect in April 2020 and sets out clear standards for sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) for the first time. What does the new manual offer that previous versions have lacked? SfA8 represents a positive step in improving the adoption of SuDS for the first time. It provides a formalised approach to the best practices for their adoption. With a clearer route to adoption, housebuilders and developers should be empowered to include more SuDS in their projects, not only a‡er official implementation next year but in the lead-up, too. Some of the positive and forward- thinking clauses in the document include mercial pressures to deliver more for less in each AMP, it could be argued that, across the supply chain, less priority is given towards investment in talent and appren- ticeships towards the end of each cycle. This results in a disjointed and incoherent ap- proach to sustainable talent development. As suppliers, we've already accepted the challenge of finding better ways to do things, innovating and improving our services to support our client's efficiency, sustainability and customer service goals. The same now needs to be applied to managing the future supply of skills, which the success of the above relies on. We need to engage and address the risks some commercial models are potentially creating for the future sustainability of talent across our industry. We're currently working as a member of the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership to explore new, innovative ways of delivering cross-industry apprenticeship programmes. The aim is to drive long-term skills devel- opment and investment, and remove the disincentives to invest that exist within the supply chain. We're hoping that as one of the companies that developed the Procure- ment Skills Accord, we can encourage oth- ers to join a working group that will look at approaches to delivering apprenticeship programmes and promote collaboration on skills development across the industry. The five Procurement Skills Accord commitments are: the recommendation of swales, basins and geocellular systems, as well as the abolishment of the five-metre rule for infiltration which, in practice, should treble the capacity of water storage. Do the guidelines go far enough? SfA8 is no doubt making progress in this area, but with vague wording allowing for wiggle room, coupled with the fact that cer- tain elements such as permeable pavements and green roofs are missing altogether, it's hard to see how SuDS will be universally adopted. Additionally, even though the NPPF has given more power to local authorities by laying out the expectation that SuDS should be given first preference in development plans, there are drawbacks to this choice of formalisation. Without the technical knowledge, local authorities are likely to side with the developers should they argue against SuDS for whatever reason. Why have SuDS historically received such little uptake? There's no denying that developers have historically been resistant to the uptake of SuDS, and with limited instruction and no enforcement, who can blame them? This comes down to the pragmatism of develop- 1. Address sector-wide skills gaps and shortages 2. Promote signing up to the Accord through the supply chain 3. Promote relevant skills development across the supply chain through procurement 4. Continuously improve performance 5. Monitor and report progress We also must recognise that while we are progressing, we are not the only sector with this agenda and need to treat this subject as a matter of urgency to avoid losing talent to other infrastructure sectors. We should be proud of the work we have started, but we have real challenges that can only be solved by end-to-end supply chain collaboration, better interworking between the people and procurement functions, and exploring contracting models that promote workforce development and sustainability. And we must do this while still delivering operationally against our commitments. There is an amazing opportunity to create brilliant careers for all ability levels in this sector and to contribute to the future sustainability of our planet and communities. All the intentions in our industry are right – we just need to be open-minded and seek creative solutions to the commercial and contractual barriers that could undermine our great intentions. ers wanting to install the most efficient solutions – if there's a cheaper and quicker solution, they will o‡en go for that. Although the new guide will be mandated by Ofwat, there are still some gaps and, it seems, few repercussions for local authorities if the recommendations are ignored. Compare this to Wales, where they've made the decision to make SuDS inclusion mandatory through Schedule 3, and it's clear the only real way to effect significant change is by making SfA8 a legal requirement. Wales has also gone one step further with the creation of a SuDS adopting body, which checks all planning applications to ensure sufficient SuDS are being used. If we want to have the same amount of success in England, we need to take a leaf out of Wales' book and encourage collaboration between different authoritative bodies to get more SuDS over the line. Having water and sewage companies in charge of SuDS adoption makes this process much slower. Instead, we need to place legal weight behind SfA8. With this seeming unlikely, for now we can only hope that developers recognise the wide-ranging and long-term benefits of SuDS and decide to follow the guidelines off their own back.