WET News

"...but clients don't often procure that way. They'll do bits of it and connect up to whatever they have." Mark Hinton, Servelec Technologies. P17 News+ Voluntary code allows businesses delivering SuDS to apply a risk-based approach to minimising the environmental impact of the diffuse pollution from run-off. P4 Onsite: Flexible contracts mean Scottish Water can prioritise maintenance efforts for its water analysers and focus spending on its most critical installations. P18-19 Insight: Proper maintenance of tanks is key to ensure their long and productive life, while refurbishment can give a new lease of life for older assets. P22 WET NEWS WATER AND EFFLUENT TREATMENT NEWS • • Combined group will have £7bn revenue and 53,000 staff worldwide. Atkins agrees to £2.1bn takeover by Canada's SNC-Lavalin MAY 2017 Volume 23 • Issue 5 Job losses feared at Dee Valley Water "Scotland have set out very clearly their expected standards of hygiene knowledge and behaviours" Nick Ellins, Energy & Utility Skills. P4 Water charging abolished in Ireland a•er vote C anadian engineering and construction organisation SNC-Lavalin Group is to acquire consultant group WS Atkins for an aggregate cash consideration of £2.1bn. The announcement comes just weeks a€er news emerged that SNC-Lavalin had made a bid approach for UK-based Atkins. Atkins provides design, engineering and project management across the infrastructure, transportation and energy sectors. It has 18,000 employees; revenue of around £2bn in 2016; and is geographically diversified in the US, Middle East and Asia, together with a leading position in the UK and Scandinavia. SNC-Lavalin, which operates in four industry sectors: oil and gas, mining and metallurgy, infrastructure and power, expects the combined group to realise annual cost synergies of almost £70M. Neil Bruce, SNC-Lavalin's president and chief executive officer, said the acquisition will create a global fully integrated professional services and project management company – including capital investment, consulting, design, engineering, construction, sustaining capital and operations and main- tenance. He said: "By combining two highly complementary businesses, we will increase our depth and breadth of services to position us as a premier partner to public and private sector clients. It also creates new revenue growth opportunities in key geographies by positioning us to capitalise on increased cross-selling and the opportunity to win and deliver major projects in new regions." Atkins chairman Allan Cook said: "Having achieved our strategic target of 8% operating margin, the Atkins directors believe that Atkins is strongly positioned to execute on its growth strategy going forward. However, we believe that the NEED TO KNOW • Atkins was subject to a takeover bid from rival CH2M at the start of the year, but it came to nothing • Analysts suggest a third party could enter the fray as the consultancy industry continues to consolidate • SNC-Lavalin is headed up by Neil Bruce, who was previously chief operating officer and executive director of AMEC • Atkins was subject to a takeover bid from rival CH2M at the start of the year, but it came to nothing, with no offer officially made offer from SNC-Lavalin represents an attractive and certain value in cash today for Atkins shareholders reflecting the high quality of the business, its people and its future prospects. The board of Atkins believes that a combination will provide clear benefits to our shareholders, enhanced opportunities for our employees as part of a larger group, and a broader service offering for our customers." The addition of Atkins will bring to SNC-Lavalin new and complementary capabilities in three of its four sectors, and with essentially no overlap in its service offering, with significant presence in Europe, UK, Scandinavia, the US, Middle East and Asia. As part of the integration process, a review of the Atkins businesses will be completed with the Atkins leadership team to determine any organisational and structural changes that should be implemented to benefit the combined entity. SNC-Lavalin does not expect this integration review to have a material impact on the continued employment of Atkins' employees. Atkins chief executive Uwe Krueger will step down and be replaced by Heath Drewett, currently group finance director. 110mm/4" UNIVERSAL FIT DESIGN IPS Flow Systems, Seaham Grange Industrial Estate, Seaham, Co Durham, SR7 0PT Tel: 0191 521 3111 www.ipsflowsystems.com WATER & RODENT NON-RETURN VALVE Please scan the QR code to order now, or for further details contact our sales team on Freephone: 0800 975 7971. W ater services in Ireland will be funded by general taxation a€er Ireland's parliament accepted a recommendation that only 'excessive use' should attract direct water charges. The Dáil voted by 96 votes to 48 to accept the recom- mendations of a report by the Committee on the Future Funding of Water Services. Around 92% of the country will pay nothing for their water under the new arrangements, with only those showing excessive use – defined as usage that is 70% above the average household use of 133 litres per person per day – having to pay a levy. Meters that are in place will be used to calculate this usage, but there will be no compulsory roll-out of meters to households that are currently non-metered. However, new build properties in Ireland will be required to have meters fitted, and bulk metering will be implemented for multi-unit developments such as apartment blocks. The Irish government will also consider how best to incentivise voluntary take-up of meters. F ourteen of the 166 employees at Dee Valley Water could be le€ without jobs following the company's £84M takeover by Severn Trent. Since it took over Dee Valley in February, Severn Trent has reviewed the business. It said while the vast majority of staff remain unaffected, it is "inevitable" that there are areas of duplication when the two businesses are brought together. "We have therefore worked hard to try to offer impacted employees alternative options if they would like to stay," a spokesperson said. However, the company has so far been unable to identify alternative roles for 14 staff. The spokesperson said: "We don't take this lightly and we'll be offering these people lots of support if they're le€ without a role at the end of the process, including offering outplacement support and contacting local employers and local government." Severn Trent's offer for Dee Valley has faced some share- holder opposition and a series of court hearings were required to finally approve the deal.

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