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 JULY 2014 WET NEWS 3 N orth Midland Construc- tion (NMC), the civil engi- neering and building spe- cialist parent of NMCNomenca and Nomenca, returned to pro t in the rst quarter of this year. A rst quarter pro t of £234K was achieved on revenue down 1.5% to £44.5M. The group said it had secured a £160M workload to be con- structed this year. Speaking at the group's annual general meeting last month (AGM), NMC's chairman, Robert Moyle, said: "This return to pro tability is extremely grati- fying and whilst the group still has its problems, most particu- larly the resolution of problemat- ical legacy contracts within the building and civil engineering division, progress is being made and overall market conditions are improving. "The general upturn in con- struction activity is still predomi- nantly being driven by the hous- ing sector, but this has a secondary impact on both high- ways and utilities expenditure, where the group is a bene ciary." Moyle added: "The green shoots of economic recovery are now starting to appear and the S evern Trent Water is invest- ing £13M to build an an- aerobic digestion plant for food waste at its Coleshill sew- age treatment works. The com- pany currently generates almost a quarter of the electricity re- quirements of its water and wastewater business with re- newable energy itself and said it is on target to increase the gure to 30% by 2015. NMC's return to pro t is 'grati ing' " North Midland Construction reports a £234K rst quarter pro t, as it resolves problematical legacy contracts Severn Trent plans food waste plant Most of STW's renewable energy is produced from the anaerobic digestion of sewage –• it operates105 digesters at 35 sites; generating 195-gigawatt hours/year – but it also gener- ates power from the anaerobic digestion of crop silage, hydro and micro-photovoltaic, with 2014 to see commissioning of the company's rst large wind turbines. Project leader Mike Surrey said: "Just in our region, there are 750 kilotonnes of available food waste every year." Once the digester is opera- tional, Severn Trent has plans to roll out food waste plants across the its region. The Public's View of a Changing Sector We are entering into a period of enormous change. The proposed Water Act, mandatory water meters, increasing customer choice and various environmental challenges are combining to create an uncertain future. Many of the proposed changes are being carried out in the name of the public interest, but how informed (or indeed interested) are the public? We commissioned a report in order to answer that question and help frame the debates that will be concerning the water sector in future months and years. View the report at www.talis-uk.com We have done the research... WET News is registered at Stationers' Hall. Origination by Faversham House Group, and PH‹Media, Roche, Cornwall. Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE. Copyright 2014. Faversham House. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publishers. Every e— ort is made to ensure the accuracy of material published in WET News. However, Faversham House will not be liable for any inaccuracies. The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. Text paper is printed on PEFC accredited paper. For more info see www.PEFC.org. License number PEFC/16-33-141. Technical articles of full page, or more appearing in this journal are indexed by British Technical Index. Editor Maureen Gaines: maureen.gaines@fav-house.com Production editor Mike Smith: mike.smith@fav-house.com Ad sales Deborah Lilley: deborah. lilley@fav-house.com Classifi ed sales Danielle Wood: danielle.wood @fav-house.com Team administrator Clare Klos: clare.klos @fav-house.com Production controller Sharon Miller: sharon.miller@fav-house.com Publisher Angela Himus: angela. himus@fav-house.com Published by Faversham House Ltd, Faversham House, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1UZ Call: 01342 332000 Publisher's note: This issue includes editorial photographs provided and paid for by suppliers. 1yr: UK £99 Overseas (airmail) £113/$198 2yr: UK £171 Overseas (airmail) £199/$349 Call: 020 8955 7045 Email: fhcustomerservices@ abacusmedia.com SUBSCRIPTIONS: ONLINE: Search WET News' archives for more jobs, news, features, products and services, events and training courses. www. wwtonline.co.uk WET NEWS group needs to ensure that it has in place the correct processes to maintain, develop and attract employees, at all levels, of the right calibre to sustain growth." A strong performance from NMCNomenca during the rst quarter produced a 7% increase in pro t to £456K on revenue up 19.5% to £21.02M. The group said the division has consistently been delivering high level KPIs for its clients and "testament of this" was the award of the AMP6 programme by Severn Trent Water. Nomenca, said the group, delivered "a promising" rst quarter result with pro t rising 41% to £148K on a revenue of £9.4M, an increase of almost 9%. The company is involved with 21 projects across the country, including those for fabrication and the manufacture of chemical dosing equipment. Around 69% of the required revenue to achieve the forecast has been secured. NMC blamed problems expe- rienced in its building and civil engineering division for the pre- vious year's major loss. The divi- sion has been restructured under new management, and while the resolution of legacy contracts continue to impact the pro t loss reduced from £482K last year to a loss of £228K for the rst quarter of 2014. Turnover was down 39.2% to £6M. The division will focus on the power, general non-highway civil engineering and building sec- tors, with a reduction in the risk pro le of future projects to be tendered for. The highways and utilities division experienced a slow start to the year, with revenue falling below the forecast, although it was 6.8% up on the previous year's depressed gure, at £8.1M. This resulted in a loss for the period of £142,000, compared with a loss of £158,000 in 2013. "We can shine a light on things, we can highlight things, we can ask questions publically about things. That's what Jonson [Cox] did last year when he was talking about the importance in board leadership, transparency and governance. We shone a light on that, we had a conversation, the sector proposed some voluntary codes. That's a great way forward and we achieved something there" Cathryn Ross "The consultant supply chain should be acting as midwives to some technologies" Prof Tom Curtis, Biological Engineering, Newcastle University YOU WHAT? "As you can tell, I've been reading management text books!" Cathryn Ross, chief executive, Ofwat NEED TO KNOW The housing sector is leading the upturn in construction activity NMC's building and civil engineering division has been restructured The group says NMCNomenca has consistently been delivering high level KPIs for its clients NMCNomenca produced a strong performance during the quarter Nomenca is involved with 21 projects across the country Average circulation Jan-Dec 2013: 6,110 An error in WET News' annual The Leaders supplement this year has meant the gure quoted as AECOM Design Build's net margin for 2011/12 appears incorrectly as 293%. We have calculated the Correction: Leaders 2014 correct gure to be 2.4%. The gure quoted refers to the year-on-year change in net margin from -1.3% in 2010/11 to 2.4% in 2011/12. All gures quoted are based on our own calculations and have not been provided by AECOM. Institute of Water Conference "We should anticipate the kind of technologies we need and start to go and nd them now. There's nothing unique here. The sooner we start looking, the sooner we'll nd it" Prof Tom Curtis "As we get into these new energy recovery technologies we could well nd ourselves in the same mess in not understanding which incentives are applicable" Chris Jones, research and development manager, Northumbrian Water Group

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