WET News

2 WET NEWS August 2014 COMMENT "A merger means another contractor being taken out of the equation..." NEWS+ August 5000 4Delivery attended the Big Bang Fair South East in Crawley. It said 5,000 nine- to 19-year olds attended the science engineering fair, giving them the change to meet industry professionals. "The cost savings identified since 2010 and the evidence of changing behaviours throughout the supply chain is encouraging" Nick Baveystock, ICE director general Yorkshire Water's pre-tax proŠ t fell 24% to £142.2M for the year to March 2014 on a turnover up 5% to £984.2M. It has identiŠ ed £300M of environment work for 2015-16. 24% 5% IN A NUTSHELL "There should be no such thing as waste water. Those two words don't belong together" @incrops £500K The amount of money Anglian Water is investing in Peterborough to save one million litres of water a day. The saving will come from varying network pressure throught the day. £14.2B The combined revenue of Carillion and Balfour Beatty if the two groups were to merge "...the problem will only get worse so we recommend that a body with a strategic oversight with a long term need for infrastructure is something the government of the day should be considering putting in place" Alasdair Reisner, CECA chief executive "This award is a fantastic opportunity for MWH and Balfour Beatty to bring our complementary capabilities to the UU programme. AMP6 and totex present new challenges for us all..." Rolfe Nuttall, managing director, MWH Treatment £1 Misreporting sewer data in 2010 has cost Thames Water a nominal £1 Š ne by regulator Ofwat. W hat a month it has been in the contractor world. First came the news that AECOM was taking over the URS Corporation in a deal worth £3.5B, creating an engineering services giant. Before the ink had even dried on that deal, Carillion and Balfour Beatty announced they are in talks over a possible merger themselves. If this merger goes ahead, the combined group would create a construction services giant valued at more than £3B and a revenue of £14B-plus. The announcement sent shockwaves among contractors and city analysts. There are also suggestions that there could be other o‡ ers for Balfour Beatty. Last year, Enterprise was snapped up by Amey while Kier gazumped Costain for May Gurney. At the the end of the day, a merger between Carillion and Balfour Beatty will mean another contractor is taken out of the equation, removing more choice for customers. Defra shelves private water supply transfer plan As WET News went to press Defra announced it was shelving plans to transfer private water supply ownership to the water companies for the time being. It's decision follows a public consultation where having assessed the evidence both Defra and the Welsh govern- ment believe there are bene' ts to be gained from transferring ownership. However, there is less certain evidence about how the proposal would impact water bills and geographical regions. The Welsh government will continue to examine further the costs and bene' ts of a transfer regarding the water companies that it regulates. The coalition government, on the other hand, does not want to see household bills rise. Would that be the case if an election year wasn't just around the corner? Thames Tideway Tunnel makes sense Next month, the industry will know if the Thames Tideway Tunnel will get the planning green light. The £4.2B tunnel is Thames Water's solution to preventing millions of tonnes of raw sewage being discharged into the tidal River Thames. The project has its detrac- tors. Some, including London mayor Boris Johnson, say it will be too costly while others believe it is the wrong solution to the problem. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to Phil Stride, head of the Tideway Tunnel, (see p9) and I get why the scheme has been selected over others. It boils down to sheer volume. Stride estimates that to tackle half the rainwater that goes down sewers an area 40 times the size of London's Hyde Park would be needed to take the ¡ ow to. Then there's the £13B cost to install a meaning- ful SUDs regime, along with the accompanying disruption caused by digging up London streets. I think Thames' customers would agree. A ECOM's $6B (£3.5B) acquisi- tion of URS Corporation, is expected to create a premier, fully integrated infrastructure ' rm, serving clients across a broad range of markets. The enlarged entity's interests will span water, transpor- tation, facilities, environmental, en- ergy, and government. URS is a fully integrated engi- neering, construction and technical services organisation, o‡ ering a range of services that include plan- ning, systems engineering, con- struction management and opera- tions and maintenance. Its water engineering activities include ¡ ood defences, dams, water supply and water treatment plants, pumping stations, pipe networks, sewerage, wastewater treatment, and outfalls. AECOM's water remit ranges from ¡ ood alleviation and water quality to wastewater treatment and asset management. The deal, which creates a com- bined entity with about $19B (£11.2B) a year in sales, is expected to realise $250M in annual cost-sav- ing synergies, nearly all of which AECOM says will be achieved by the ¤ AECOM's $6B takeover of URS is described as 'a compelling strategic combination', will ensure it is better positioned to compete for major, complex projects. AECOM becomes engineering services giant with URS takeover end of ' scal year 2016. Michael Burke, AECOM's chief executive, who will head the com- bined company, said the deal cre- ated an industry leader with "unsurpassed capacity to deliver integrated solutions across AECOM's existing markets. In addi- tion, we expect to seize opportuni- ties to more broadly leverage our direct investment vehicle, AECOM Capital." He said: "We will have the abil- ity to design and deliver major civil infrastructure projects in sectors such as transportation and water." Burke said: "Clients, employees and stockholders of both compa- nies will bene' t from the opportu- nities created by these expanded capabilities, broad global reach in key growth markets and economies of scale. In one step, we will dra- matically accelerate our strategy of creating an integrated delivery plat- form with superior capabilities to design, build, ' nance and operate infrastructure assets around the world." Martin Ko‡ el, URS chairman and chief executive, described the deal as "a compelling strategic combination" that it expected would make it better positioned to compete for major, complex pro- jects across a diverse range of end markets and geographic regions". NEED TO KNOW The combined group will create a $19B a year competitor, with 95,000 employees and customers in more than 1560 countries BeneŠ ts of the merger include expansion within "attractive market sectors" as well as better positioning within growing international markets The addition of URS means AECOM can accelerate its strategy to deliver integrated services across its global platform TMore than 60% of the combined group's global presence is in the US, while the EMEA will account for 14% www.teekaycouplings.com tel: +44 (0)1494 679500

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