WET News

4 ALLIANCES 2016 ALLIANCES 2016 Take your partners... With new regulatory cycles having arrived throughout the UK, so have a number of new consortia, while some have been le in the lurch. S ix months in and AMP6 is still in its infancy. But the new regulatory cycle feels as though it has been around for ages, most probably because of early start programmes put in place by some of the water and wastewater companies. Throughout the past 12 months or so there has been a hive of activity as con- tractors and consultants have jostled for the best opportunities to win work in the next AMP cycle. This activity has been more intense this time around as contracts that had been in place for five or ten years were up for grabs again. Miss out for AMP6 and that could mean another five, ten or 15 years pass before some contracts come up again. And, as with AMP5, the trend for joint ventures and consortia shows no sign of stopping, as this issue of Alliances high- lights. Alliances 2016 is the only guide offering insight into the collaborative ventures formed by the leading civil and process engineering companies and con- sultants serving the water sector. We have taken the leading joint ventures (JVs) and consortia and profiled each one in turn. Loss With new regulatory cycles having arrived throughout the UK, so have a number of new consortia. These include ESD, CiM6, KCD, and BNM Alliance. Some water companies have their own alliances, Thames Water with eight2O, for instance. Anglian Water, on the other hand, has opted for four work-related alliances including Integrated Main Cap- ital Works and Integrated Operational Solutions (see p6-9). However, the start of AMP6 has seen some alliances experience the loss of a partner. GTM and LiMA are two such consortia who, having won AMP6 deals with Southern Water and United Utili- ties, respectively, were le— minus a part- ner when Imtech Water, Waste & Energy unexpectedly went into administration in September. Earlier this year, the LiMA joint ven- ture with Laing O'Rourke and Atkins was awarded UU's £170M deal to upgrade Davyhulme Wastewater Treatment Works. The Imtech WWE and Galliford Try alliance was one of three partners appointed to Southern Water's AMP6 programme. Both Galliford Try and Laing O'Rourke subsequently took on most of the 70 Imtech staff whose jobs were at risk. A Galliford Try spokesman said: "Looking forward, it is likely that Galli- ford Try will look to seek alternative part- ners to assist in future projects coming through the Southern Water framework." eight2O partner CVA, a consortium between Costain, Veolia and Atkins, also found itself one partner down earlier this year. This was due to a change in strategy by Veolia, which decided to focus on asset optimisation rather than design and build work. As a result Veolia le— the joint venture at the end of the Early Con- tractor Involvement part of the contract with Thames Water. "Partners should pre- agree the terms of departure to maintain control should a partner leave"

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