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UTILITY WEEK | 27TH - 3RD DECEMBER 2015 | 23 Utilities at work They cost a fortune, the public hates them, but the country couldn't function without them. Mathew Beech looks at utility streetworks. Streetworks Innovation / Efficiency 24 NJUG chief Bob Gallienne 25 The Streetworks Village at Utility Week Live 26 No-dig technologies 27 The contractor's view Read on: B ehind the temporary traffic lights and "road closed" signs, quietly and slowly there is a revolution going on. Streetworks are adopting new technologies to make things safer, quicker and cheaper. Gas, electricity and running water are essentials for modern life, and essential to the job of maintaining them are streetworks, with their hi-vis-clad engineers keeping the lights on, the gas flowing and the water running. However, to many motorists and householders, this work is notable only for the disruption it causes. A report commissioned by the National Joint Utilities Group (NJUG) and conducted by PA Consulting recently revealed that utilities undertook 1.5 million streetworks in 2014/15, which equates to six million man- hours of road occupation (see Bob Galli- enne's column, p24). Paying for this work to maintain a safe and reliable supply of water, electricity and gas cost utility companies between £1.5 and £2 billion in 2014/15, according to the NJUG report. Meanwhile, the Department for Transport estimates that streetworks cost the UK economy £4.3 billion a year. Utilities, contractors and highway author- ities are working to minimise this impact, and have achieved a significant shi in the way streetworks are conducted – from intro- ducing innovative no-dig technologies (see p26) through to the development of cloud technologies. Together, these have cut the cost and duration of streetworks, in some cases by 90 per cent. The "core and vac" technique adopted by National Grid Gas, and other utilities, is esti- mated between April 2011 and March 2014 to have helped reduce delays in London by a cumulative 5,670 days. The system involves cutting a circular hole in the road before extracting the mate- rial surrounding the pipes and wires being accessed. This typically removes only 20 per cent of the aggregate that open trench works would, and sees the total job time poten- tially cut from five days down to half a day. Ian Shanks, chairman of pipeline repair company Radius Plus, says this type of sys- tem reduces the cost of installing a new asset or maintaining an existing one, with Operations & Assets STREETWORKS IN THE UK £4.3bn 1.5m £1.5-£2bn 5,670 days saved What utilities spent on streetworks in 2014/15 Estimated cost of traffic delays caused by streetworks to UK plc each year: Annual number of streetworks undertaken by utilities in London last year by National Grid's 'core and vac' technique = 6m man-hours on the roads this and other technology, such as pipe - lining, potentially cutting a third off the bills for utility companies. Northern Gas Networks operations manager for construction services Richard Hynes-Cooper, who has overseen his com- pany's work with Radius Plus, says innova- tive technologies "improve safety, efficiency and customer service". He highlights a project in Whitehaven to replace a stretch of tier one gas pipe, which was cut from three months to six weeks. During this process, Hynes-Cooper is aware that the health and safety risks, which typi- cally involve exposure to unearthed wires and pipes in open cut trenches, were dra- matically reduced. Not only do new technologies improve things for the utility. The "huge change" in the way streetworks are being done is benefitting customers, according to British Water director Paul Mullord. "A lot of peo- ple are doing things very differently to try and make it a better experience for their customers," he says. This includes better customer engage- ment, with residents being informed of when streetworks are set to take place and how long they will last. This is oen done by post, but most utilities also offer updates online and via apps. National Grid Gas and Wales & West Utilities are among those leading the way with digital streetworks engagement, according to Elgin chairman Shane O'Neill. He says utilities have found this diffi- cult because of their "legacy systems", but spurred on by regulatory regimes encourag- ing innovation, they have introduced pages on their websites detailing when and where roadworks will take place. "This is good practice," says O'Neill, "And by having this information on their websites, it is saving each of them for every call they no longer need to take." He says both utilities and their contrac- tors are making improvements to the way streetworks are carried out, not just in terms of customer engagement but also in terms of new technology. "The change may be slow," he says, "but it is happening."