Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/892603
ALLIANCES 2018 5 maintenance as opposed to quality man- agement programmes is also expected. Water companies are also considering more schemes aimed at providing greater capacity to take account of the boom in housing development. Companies are seeing a lot more demand from water sector clients for specialist services in natural, social and human capital, helping them to identify and value these additional types of capi- tal in their investment planning. There is also growing interest in circular economy approaches from water companies, which helps them keep assets and materials at their highest value for as long as possible. New tech- nologies that increase the production of methane from sludge, for example, are turning unwanted waste products into renewable energy sources. Companies expect to see continued growth in these areas during AMP7 as increasing numbers of water companies recognise the need to deliver more with less. Overall, though it seems the main challenge for the sector is Brexit and how it will impact the movement of people. Potential difficulties in accessing skilled labour from within Europe could be chal- lenging for the delivery of the sector's ambitious pipeline of projects. Overall, though, the continuing trend for the water companies adopting an alli- ancing model boosts collaboration throughout the supply chain. Having a multi-partner approach drives innova- tion which in turn delivers greater effi- ciency. That can only be a good thing. As the industry starts preparing for the transition from AMP6 to AMP7, contractors will be hoping there will be no spanner in the works