Utility Week

32 | MAY 2021 | UTILITY WEEK Operational Excellence Analysis A nglian Water takes the approach that the next generation of the water sec- tor should be involved in shaping the innovation today that will become the busi- ness as usual of the future. To that end, the company has launched Shop Window, which aims to use the Suffolk town of Newmarket as a testbed for innova- tive products and processes. The project is driven forward by a subset of the manage- ment board in collaboration with Anglian's Future Leaders Board, made up of people in the early stages of their career who have been selected for their high potential. Jason Tucker, director of strategic delivery and commercial at Anglian, says the groups were brought together to combine the gov- ernance and experience of today's directors working with the ambition and insights of the future management board. All the activ- ity for the Newmarket region comes under the jurisdiction of that board. "Leaders need to listen as much as we talk," Tucker says. "For those of us who've been round the block a few times it's so exciting to listen to not only the enthusiasm and the ambition but also the fantastic ideas that the fresh generational eyes and perspec- tive can bring." This has catapulted Shop Window to be expanded to more parts of the region, says Shop Window manager Fionn Boyle. Boyle, who chairs the Future Leaders Board, explains that the project will never cease to be an incubator for ideas and a platform Ruth Williams reports on Anglian Water's ground-breaking Shop Window initiative in Newmarket, where new tech and processes can be trialled. The race for excellence in innovation for innovative solutions to be trialled before they are rolled out in Anglian's region as well as to other parts of the UK. Location, location Boyle explains why Newmarket was selected: "In terms of customers it has a good socio- economic split that allows us to explore dif- ferent things. And the asset base is discrete, so we can trial things without causing too much disruption. Plus it has a history of innovation as the first place we'd done pres- sure management." Shop Window provides an opportunity for innovative ideas to be tested with real customers and assets – and real challenges. In February the company announced that the test area would grow to include more of the region, taking it to around one million customers. "Collaboration is key to what we do," Boyle says. "With the expansion, we're col- laborating with more parts of the business, more customers, more stakeholders. None of it can be achieved just by Anglian. Shop Window's success is based on those who engage with it. We're creating a platform for people to be a part of that future." Around 170 different projects with around 150 partners have been carried out. Not all them have been successful, but Boyle says the failures are an accepted part of the process. "The intellectual capital of how to engage with customers and bring them along on the journey was the real success and that's something we've brought across into our smart metering programme as we go. "The trial at Newmarket let us get ahead of the game and understand what our cus- tomers needed." Tucker says an expectation about the company from its customers, regulators and stakeholders has been to always look to the future, though this must be balanced against managing the demands and expectations of current customers too. "We need to be on the front foot for the region we serve and the environment we pro- tect and enhance," he explains. "We want to actively remove any barriers and encour- age others to come along with us to test and to innovate to effectively get to that future water company operation and approach in the quickest possible time." This attitude has allowed the company to develop its smart water strategy – digitalis- ing assets and working with digital twins in Newmarket, which Tucker says means the company has progressed at pace. "We've been able to explore through the Shop Window because of the sensors we have there and the systems to visualise that. We have four of the most highly sensitive DMAs [district metered areas] in Europe, or in the world, because of Newmarket. That level of understanding has been huge for us, our customers and our supply chain. We've been able to offer the platform of the Shop Window to suppliers to develop new approaches and

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