Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/931631
News+: Veolia work saves Scottish Water energy; Arcadis ups data o ering with SEAMS acquisition p3 Onsite: Stonbury on building a new service reservoir for South Sta s Water at Outwoods p8 Onsite: O site construction comes into its own for Nomenca with modular pumping station p10 WET NEWS WATER AND EFFLUENT TREATMENT NEWS North America-established giant integrates MWH UK and MWH Treatment to become key UK player Stantec integration of MWH creates player in UK market FEBRUARY 2018 Volume 24 • Issue 2 £60M upgrade in prospect for Ellesmere Port WwTW New £4M WTW for Scottish Water in Highlands G lobal infrastructure design and delivery company Stantec has announced the successful integration of MWH UK and MWH Treatment into its business. The completion of the integra- tion now makes Stantec an estab- lished key player in the UK infra- s t r u c t u re m a r ke t a s we l l a s marking a further expansion of their combined service o• ering in the UK. The change, e• ective from 1 January, means that MWH UK and MWH Treatment will now be known as Stantec and Stantec Treatment . This follows the merger in March 2016, which saw the creation of a combined busi- ness with 22,000 employees glob- ally, across 400 locations, span- ning six continents. The company said the union of the two companies presents the UK business with an excellent opportunity to build on its reputa- tion as a leader in the water sector as well as expand its expertise further into infrastructure, energy and resources, environmental services and buildings. Stantec UK Managing Director Cath Schefer, who joined MWH in 1999, told WET News: "MWH are a global player with o' ces all over the world but predomi- nantly located around the sectors of water and natural resources: W essex Water has become the ' rst company in the UK to deliver a pressure main liner to the new interna- tional standard for cured-in-place pipes under pressure. The liner was installed inside a d e f e c t iv e r i s i n g m a i n a t the company's Christchurch sew- a g e t r e a t m e n t w o r k s n e a r Bournemouth. C r i t i c a l s e we r s e n g i n e e r Nathan Hand said: "Wessex Water mining, hydropower and, par- ticularly in the UK, water and a real focus on the water utilities. So when we were looking to merge with a company, coming together with Stantec was very logical for us because they are multi-sector but they didn't have a global footprint. "They were really concentrated mainly around America and Canada, so the combination of the two companies will ultimately give us a multi-sector global com- pany, and our aspiration really is to grow in all the Stantec sectors in all the geographical regions we have in the world. That's the reason why we came together in the ' rst place and what we want to achieve." Stantec Treatment Managing Director Paul Bresnan added: "We've worked hard to become a leading design and build organi- sation in the UK water sector, reaching this position by consist- ently delivering and outperform- ing for clients. This new develop- ment signals our ambition to build on this success. "We are already seeing the bene' t of bringing together our combined knowledge and experi- ence and we are con' dent that this will drive the growth of our UK business." Stantec believes that bringing diverse technical excellence to U nited Utilities plans to carry out development to upgrade and increase the capacity of its wastewater treat- ment works in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. New plant and machinery would be installed to connect with the existing equipment at the works, set in the green belt and dating back to 1973. The North West-focused water ' rm says the project, once plan- ning is approved, would involve land on two sides of the site as well as taking in grazing land partly to allow landscaping. Planning permission is not needed for new plant and equip- ment up to 15m in height, and so the application only covers devel- opment that exceeds the size limits or lies on new land. One of the larger pieces of plant requiring approval is an anaerobic digester over 18m in diameter and nearly 25m high. This breaks down sludge and produces gas that can be used as a source of energy. United Utilities' approach is s a i d to b e to p ro v i d e t h re e regional sludge treatment centres for the North-West, with Ellesmere Port identi' ed as the best site for the Cheshire area. The need arises from the increasing population of Elles- mere Port and a 'significant' increase in trade effluent from the nearby Essar re' nery. S cottish Water customers in Stoer and the surrounding area in the West Highlands now have their water supplied via a new £4M treatment plant. The project was carried out by Scottish Water's alliance partner ESD and contractor Ross-shire Engineering, with the building phase starting on site in mid-July last year. The nano-' ltration membrane treatment plant was built at Ross- shire Engineering's facility in Muir of Ord, comprehensively tested, and then split into large transport- able sections and reassembled on site. David Kitching of Scottish Water said: " This membrane technology is state of the art and delivers enhanced filtration to deliver cleaner, fresher drinking water for our customers in the area for the foreseeable future. The way we have approached this project has allowed the plant to be constructed in a controlled environment, reducing risk to the workforce, improving quality control and signi' cantly reducing the construction period." Joe Syed from ESD said: "Deliv- ering this kind of investment for small, rural communities involves a r a nge o f d i s t i n c t ive ch a l- lenges.¤Working with our contrac- tor, Ross-shire Engineering, we've worked hard to keep disruption for the local community to a minimum."¤ bear will help it tackle the biggest challenges facing the utilities, infrastructure and built environ- ment sectors. The company has identi' ed four key areas that the industry will need to focus on in 2018 and beyond. These are: putting the customer ' rst; resilience; a• ord- ability; and innovation. Stantec says it will work with its clients and partners to tackle these four challenges collaboratively over the coming years. "From a UK perspective, where I think it enhances what we cur- rently do is in that area of urban design, resilience and ¨ ooding using wider stakeholder manage- ment to actually solve a problem for a client, a water company or a council," Schefer added. "Stan- tec have the ability to be able to bring together multiple stakehold- ers to solve a problem. They're very good at facilitating that conversation and they've done that on a far greater scale than we have." Schefer said the merger has created excitement among the company's UK employees. "For our sta• what this means is that ultimately over time there's only opportunities...it can only b e a go o d t h i ng f o r u s, o u r employees and our clients." - Read a full interview with Cath Schefer on pages 6-7. "The future of water management may become an area where Š rms and organisations can make a positive impact on the lives of people" Dr Shane Rooney, GSMA Executive Director. P16 "It does feel very much like two excellent companies coming together and working out how, between us, we can be a better company" Cath Schefer, Stantec UK Managing Director, talks to WET News. P6 Cath Schefer, Stantec Director, talks to has been lining gravity sewers since 1984. What was di• erent here was putting a liner in a pres- sure main, so it had to be able to handle internal pressures from the pumps. "This meant the design and materials were very di• erent, with a glass ' bre woven into the felt to strengthen it and a special blend of resin used." Extensive collaboration was required to overcome some tough challenges and complete the scheme last month. Paul Musselwhite, Wessex Water's multi-functional general foreman, said: "What made this scheme unique was that all work was undertaken in an active sew- age treatment works. "It soon became apparent that an easy ' x couldn't be undertaken due to the close proximity of a storm settlement tank. "Our R&M waste department came up with a solution to over- land the defective pumping main to keep the local network in opera- tion. This also allowed time for the in-house rehab team to design one of the ' rst pressurised liners to be installed. "Both excavations were com- pleted in very challenging ground conditions, and we worked in close partnership with the main t r e a t m e n t g u y s a n d l o c a l scientists." Sewer lining • rst in Wessex Water project "We've worked hard to become a leading design and build organisation in the UK water sector, reaching this position by consistently delivering and outperforming for clients. This new development signals our ambition to build on this success" Paul Bresnan, Managing Director of the newly rebranded Stantec Treatment