WET News

2 WET NEWS JULY 2014 COMMENT "Wouldn't it be a great idea to establish a col- laboration hub?" NEWS+ JULY 11% Women only account for 11% of the construction work- force. The Thames Tideway Tunnel project hopes 'to inspire' the future genera- tion of women in all aspects of construction. "If you ask my wife, I probably get the work-life balance completely wrong" Drummond Modley, grid programme manager, WECS Schneider Electric says 'smart water' is real, and can achieve up to 30% energy savings; up to a 20% reduction in water losses; and up to a 20% outage reduction. 30% 20% IN A NUTSHELL "Don't wait until you need to go to the toilet to build the toilet..." Prof Tom Curtis, Newcastle University 22,000 GMB had to remove about 22,000m 3 of soil o' site on its Barrow Hill reservoir project for Thames Water. The contractor expects less than half to be brought back onsite. £900M The amount that Thames Water's tender is for, covering infrastructure work. "The green shoots of economic recovery are now starting to appear and the group needs to ensure it has in place the correct processes to maintain, develop and attract employees of the right calibre to sustain growth" Robert Moyles, chairman, NMC "Some £3.5B had been invested since 2010 improving water and wastewater pipes and treatment works, worth some £7B to the regional economy, supporting 9,000 jobs across the north-west of England" Chris Matthews, head of sustainability, United Utilities £1M The amount of money Dwr Cymru Welsh Water is spending a day to improve and maintain its assets. L ast month I attended Angli- an Water's seminar con- cerning the importance of smart technology in the world of water. It was an interesting semi- nar but what struck me most was the workshop session. The majority of attendees, I would guess, were from Anglian Water's contractors and supply chain. The number of water companies in attendance was minimal to say the least. Having said that there were two involved in the workshop that I sat in on. The task of various workshops was to brainstorm smart innovative solutions for customers, assets and data security. For the couple of hours that the workshop took place, there were loads of good ideas but not once was the customer mentioned. Collaboration hub But stranger still, is that the water companies appear to concentrate on their own patches and nowhere else. Yet, they all experience the same problems and, ultimately, have the same goal – to supply water to their customers. Essentially, they are working as regional entities rather than thinking as a national industry. To help the industry think as a united sector and to instil forward thinking, wouldn't it be a great idea to establish a collaboration hub? It is also something that contractors could get involved with and, dare I say, lead. A contractor can have several water companies as customers and seem ideally placed to see where common solutions can be found for common problems. Tendering work is gather- ing pace ahead of AMP6 With just a few months to go be- fore the start of AMP6, it's great to see a number of contracts go- ing out to tender well in ad- vance. Thames Water is out there with a £900M infrastructure deal. And don't forget Scottish Water, which is tendering a £400M contract for consultancy services for its SR15 2015-2021 capital investment programme. Hopefully, this means that early-start programmes put in place by some water companies are working and will mean contractors seeing work a lot sooner than they would have in previous AMP cycles. A big well done to those companies, but there is still a long way to go before the industry can say that the boom and bust aspect of the " ve- yearly cycles has be eradicated for good. No doubt once the dust has settled in AMP6, the powers that be will review whether the introduction of transitional investment has been successful or not. I would say it has, but what seems to be making a real impact is the fact that contracts are being awarded with AMP7 and AMP8 in mind as well. This means that contractors and the supply chain can think beyond the next " ve years or so. And if this is what a total expenditure approach brings to the water industry, then long live totex. T he BSI and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) have collaborated of a new standard that will make the de- tection of underground utilities easier. The standard, PAS 128, Speci" cation for underground utility detection, veri" cation and location, will be of use to surveyors, geophysicists or sub- surface utility engineers (SUE) as well as engineers, construc- tors, project managers and utili- ty owners who are responsible for recording information about underground utilities. It aims to provide unambigu- ous provision for those engaged in the detection, veri" cation and location of active, abandoned, redundant or unknown utilities The standard is needed because as demand on the nation's infrastructure contin- ues to grow due to new develop- ments, the need to replace and / or maintain existing utilities increases, said the BSI. It is therefore essential accurate information about where under- ground utilities are actually located is available. BSI said utility mapping would occur where ground investigation, borehole, trial pit works and other construction œ New BSI standard will ensure that as demand on infrastructure increases accurate underground utilities information will be available PAS128 standard makes utilities mapping easier works are proposed. A survey conforming to PAS 128 can be used as an indicator of the pres- ence or absence of underground utilities before conducting fur- ther ground investigation prior to breaking ground. Anthony Burd, BSI's head of market development for con- struction, said: "The application of PAS 128 is not just restricted to current solutions, but will a¡ ord as yet unrealised bene" ts. For example, the use of remote robotic techniques to maintain asset networks in busy highways in future to reduce the need for intrusive maintenance practices (road excavations). "Similarly, accurate mapping of utility networks could improve asset modelling capa- bilities with more determined outcomes." A spokesperson for ICE said: "New construction o¤ en con- ¥ icts with existing underground infrastructure. Existing under- ground utilities and their related structures constitute ine¦ cien- cies and risks on projects. Underground utility mapping and subsurface utility engineer- ing have been developed and used to address this issue with great success in other interna- tional markets. "PAS 128 has been developed to support the SUE / utility map- ping industry in the UK. While there is signi" cant knowledge and expertise in the industry, the market is largely unregulated. ICE knowledge transfer advi- sor Richard Armstrong said: "This PAS sets out the accuracy to which data capture occurs, the quality of the expected data and a means by which to assess and indicate the con" dence that can be placed in it." NEED TO KNOW The detection, veriš cation and location of utility assets have been subject to interpreta- tion and inaccuracies Unnecessary work that has often needed to be aborted Accurate mapping of utility networks could improve asset modelling capabilities with more determined outcomes The standard could result in e' ective planning and safer execution of street works, civil works, ground works and utility based activities www.teekaycouplings.com tel: +44 (0)1494 679500

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