WET News

WET NEWS WATER AND EFFLUENT TREATMENT NEWS News+ The fallout of Royal Imtech's bankruptcy has sent shockwaves through engineering circles. P7 Onsite: Trenchless technology No matter the scale of operations, Wessex Water's preferred method for dealing with sewer problems is through trenchless technology where possible. But this process is not always straightforward. P10-13 Insight: Leakage management Data- informed technologies can make water distribution networks smarter, more e† cient, and more sustainable. P20 Dutch group Royal Imtech declared bankrupt days after ‰ ling for protection against creditors. to make that happen." Imtech UK has been trading as normal since Royal Imtech was declared bankrupt on August 13. In a statement, the UK division said it has been "operating under the sole con- trol of the UK management team. While continuing our business, we are also assessing longer-term options and are in discussions with interested parties". Royal Imtech was declared bankrupt by the Rotterdam District Court just days aƒ er the Dutch group „ led for protection from its creditors. Imtech Capital BV, Imtech BV and Imtech Group BV were also declared bankrupt. In a statement, the group said it was "very disappointing that aƒ er all the eˆ orts of all involved it has not proven possible to avoid this situation. It had considered all options in A s WET News went to press, private equity group Endless LLP was in talks over the possible acquisition of Imtech UK, which includes Imtech Water, Waste & Energy. The move follows the collapse of Imtech UK's Dutch parent group, Royal Imtech, last month. The trustees appointed at engineering services group Royal Imtech in Amsterdam said Endless was in "exclusive negotiations" to buy Imtech Suir Engineering in Ireland, and was "also interested in the activities of Imtech UK". Trustee Jeroen Princen said: "We are hopeful that we can conclude the sale of divisions before next Monday [August 31]. It is important that clients and employees have clarity as quickly as possible. "We are working day and night and doing our utmost Private equity rm Endless eyes up Imtech UK Resident complaints land Yorkshire Water in odour trouble SEPTEMBER 2015 Volume 21 • Issue 09 continuous battery powered turbidity for network monitoring Visit us at Aquatech Amsterdam on stand: 02.402 from 3rd-6th November 2015 t. 0800 8046 062 www.atiuk.com GIS could speed up impact assessment Need to Know Imtech Germany's ‰ ling for insolvency led to Royal Imtech requesting protection against creditors Imtech Tra† c & Infra, excluding the Belgian activities, sold to RCPT Beheer Shares in Imtech Belgian Holding have been sold to Cordeel Groep Agta Record has bought the shares in Imtech Toegangstechniek Y orkshire Water has been issued with an abatement notice by East Riding of Yorkshire Council because of odours coming from its wastewater treatment works at Saltend. The notice follows an investigation by the council into complaints from residents about the odours. The water company is now required to prevent odours escaping from the facility. Failure to comply without reasonable excuse is considered a criminal oˆ ence. In a statement, Nigel Leight- on, director of environment and neighbourhood services at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said an investigation had con- „ rmed that a statutory nuisance exists. Yorkshire Water said it accepted "that we have work to do to resolve this problem", and has been liaising closely with the council for some time about the operational issues. view of the fact that an agreement with „ nanciers on additional „ nancing could not be reached". Royal Imtech said it had been assured that no companies of the Imtech group other than those mentioned above and Imtech Germany were subject to insolvency proceedings. Royal Imtech added that its Marine and Nordic divisions had been set outside of the group under the control of Imtech's „ nanciers with a view to a sale of those divisions or parts thereof to third parties to ensure as much as possible the continuation of their businesses and the continued employment of their 7,300 employees. The subsequent sale of Imtech Tra¡ c & Infra, Imtech Marine and Imtech Nordic has generated more than 140M euros. The „ nanciers warned that to facilitate the process set out above and transactions to further secure as much as possible the interests of creditors and jobs of as many employees as possible, it is conceivable that Imtech subsidiaries will be granted suspension of payments or will be declared bankrupt. C onducting Environmental Impact Assessments for major projects could become signi„ cantly quicker with the help of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), according to research sponsored by Costain. The research project, led by former local authority GIS technician Katie McCausland at the University of Reading, is looking at how GIS can be used to assess a large-scale construction project's potential ecological and environmental impacts. It is hoped that GIS could help infrastructure providers meet biodiversity targets and conduct quicker and more de„ nitive Environmental Impact Assessments. McCausland said using data from sources such as Ordnance Survey, Natural England and the Environment Agency, Costain will be able to identify areas on a project that are environmentally sensitive and so need to be taken into consideration during planning. "...we are keen to explore whether this could work for other projects in the sector" Cathryn Ross, Ofwat, p3 "AMP6 delivery has got to be very much business as usual" Clive Mottram, Eversheds, p8

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