WET News

8 WET NEWS JULY 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk NEWS+ Alliances 'best for water sector delivery' • Utility Week Live delegates told alliancing can produce numerous benefits over traditional models by James Brocke and Robin Hacke A lliancing produces better results than traditional partnership models for water companies because of the behaviours, culture and the long-term working relationships involved, speakers from Anglian Water and its contracting part- ners told Utility Week Live. Anglian has opted for 15-year frameworks for its delivery alli- ances and its head of contract management, Andrew Page, said the commercial models involved in such long-term arrangements bring about the right behaviours for success. The @One Alliance – Angli- an's flagship alliance with con- tract partners Balfour Beatty, Barhale, MMB, Sweco, Stantec and Skanska – is now in its 14th year and has been followed by five further alliances with 19 partners in total. "Since 2005, we've proved that alliancing outperforms a traditional partnership model, across customer experience, health & safety, efficiency and delivery," Page said. He added that the key ele- ments to get right are the com- mercial model, the correct behaviours, leadership and integration. For this reason, he said, 80 per cent of Anglian's selection criteria when choosing partners are about behaviours rather than cost. Dave Ward is director of Anglian's Integrated Mainte- nance & Repair (IMR) alliance, which is now in its fourth year and includes Clancy Docwra and Kier. The alliance has 800 employees and Ward said it was no easy task to make sure all of them were integrated and work- ing together at the outset. "We changed to alliancing overnight, but it's important to recognise that our employees had worked in previous models and you can't expect them to adapt to it overnight," Ward said. "We set out in 2015 with a clear intent to offer long-term, stable jobs, with trust and good personal relationships, but we weren't necessarily believed at that point and we didn't neces- sarily expect to be. We had to work to earn that belief." Important factors in integrat- ing the workforce included all the alliance's people training together with no differentiation, plus investment in leadership training and physical co-loca- tion of employees in open-plan offices. However, the commer- cial model must be right before the rest of it can happen, he added. Having a single Totex budget for the alliance has helped greatly in simplifying financial concerns and incen- tives in the alliance, Ward said. Terry Muckian, director of water and operational delivery at Skanska and part of the @ One Alliance, pointed out that the 15-year length of these alli- ance frameworks is longer than the average marriage, and so requires commitment. But he said there is no doubt that the model is one that works for the people involved. "We want to attract the best people to work for our organisa- tions, and people want to work in a collaborative environment, not an adversarial one," Muck- ian said, adding that Skanska employees who are part of the @One Alliance have the highest job satisfaction scores of any in the wider company. methodology and Ashley said there had been a "mixed response" from the companies, with some "really recognising there was a need for an ambi- tious reduction in leakage" and others believing the target may be a step too far. One delegate highlighted the manner in which Ofgem had incentivised risk-averse energy companies to pursue innova- tion through the Innovation Funding Incentive (IFI) and then the Network Innovation Allowance (NIA). Asked if Ofwat might adopt a similar approach, Ashley said: "We don't have the innovation funding in the way Ofgem has at the moment, but one of the ways we're stimulating innova- tion is by really pushing The risk-sharing element of alliancing meant that it was o£en 'win-win', but if on occa- sion it was 'lose-lose' then the partners could accept this. The important thing was that all the partners are in it together and that no one partner is winning at another's expense, he concluded. Ofwat expects innovation on leakage Ofwat's director of customer engagement and outcomes, Jon Ashley, told Utility Week Live that the regulator expects to promote greater innovation by setting strong leakage challenges in PR19. Ofwat is challenging compa- nies to reduce leakage by 15 per cent as part of its PR19 companies on their leakage commitments, like the 15 per cent reduction challenge, on the basis that necessity is the mother of innovation." He added that new chief exec- utive Rachel Fletcher, who joined Ofwat from Ofgem in Jan- uary, will be "thinking about different incentives" for the forthcoming Price Review. Getting tough on FOG key to reducing sewer blockages Getting tough on the fats, oil and grease (FOG) released from restaurants and takeaways can make all the difference in reducing the number of sewer blockages, delegates heard. Southern Water has carried out a project to tackle FOG 'hotspots' since 2015 and has reduced sewer blockages from an average of 23,000 per year to around 19,700 as a result, according to the utility's FOG and unflushables manager Elvira Gabos. The project had a budget of £1.4 million and focused on 2,000 locations that had been identified as 'hot- spots' because of repeated blockages. Southern recruited a team of network protection officers – some of whom were ex-police- men – to investigate blockages by li£ing manholes in the affected areas and visit food ser- vice establishments where FOG from their premises was found to be the cause. The officers inspect the equipment and pro- cesses in place for grease man- agement, and where these are defective, warn the businesses that if they do not improve the situation they could face prose- cution under the Water Industry Act 1991. "We never tell food busi- nesses what type of installation to use for grease management – we simply tell them that if their operations cause a blockage again we will invoice them for the cost of clearing it," Gabos said. "And if they carry on a£er that without taking action then we'll take them to court." Around 15 per cent of sewer blockages in the Southern region are directly attributed to FOG, but another 25 per cent have mixed causes, which are o£en a blend of wet wipes and fat, she added. Parallel efforts have taken place in the area on educating householders on the risks of unflushables. Utility Week Live, the biggest annual exhibition for the UK utilities sector, took place on 22 and 23 May at the Birmingham NEC.

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