A new district energy centre has been opened in Newcastle as part of a commitment to tackle climate change in the area by saving more than 30,000 tonnes of carbon over 40 years. The energy centre is being officially launched by ENGIE UK, in partnership with Newcastle City Council. The official launch event, which took place on Wednesday, January 15, saw the district energy centre – which forms part of a wider £20m low carbon scheme within the City – further boosting Newcastle’s commitment to tackling climate change by saving more than 30,000 tonnes of carbon over 40 years. The facility on the flagship Newcastle Helix site, will use a 5km network of underground pipes to supply heating and cooling to 10 buildings and up to 450 homes on site. Using heat and power created through the use of low carbon and cost-effective energy solutions, including natural gas fired CHP (Combined Heat and Power), the centre also generates chilled water and cooling facilities and electricity to neighbouring buildings. It’s hoped the new centre will be the first of many innovative energy projects resulting from the Regenerate Newcastle Partnership; a joint venture between ENGIE and Newcastle City Council, to develop and operate district energy schemes within the City over a 40-year term. Nicola Lovett, Chief Executive of ENGIE UK and Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be marking the completion of the new Helix Energy Centre, the first of what we hope will be many innovative low carbon energy projects delivered by our long-term partnership with Newcastle City Council. “With local authorities playing an increasingly key role in the drive to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions, ENGIE is committed to using its expertise to support Newcastle with its climate goals and on its journey to becoming a zero carbon city by 2030.”  The centre has been made possible with funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Government’s Local Growth Deal through the North East Local Enterprise Partnership. Leader of Newcastle City Council, Cllr Nick Forbes, said: “Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet so it’s incumbent on all of us to do what we can to reduce our carbon emissions. “Last year we declared a climate change emergency and since then have set up a Climate Change Convention and are putting in place a range of measures to make the city carbon zero by 2030. “The opening of the District Energy Centre is a significant boost to our climate change credentials and will provide affordable and sustainable heating to residents and cutting-edge businesses which are bringing high quality jobs to the city,” added Cllr Forbes, who also chairs the council’s Climate Change Committee. Helix District Energy Centre is the first innovative scheme in a venture to develop District Energy in the Newcastle city boundaries as part of the Regenerate Newcastle Partnership.

Amey has joined forces with a specialist supplier in the augmented reality field to develop a new app to address ‘unflushables’ in the sewer network. The firm will utilise ClicksandLinks technology to show householders right before their eyes how flushing the wrong items would block their drains and sewers. The app allows sewer operatives to ‘overlay’ a typical sewer network on a customer’s property or surrounding area on their Android mobile phone. The app then runs animations which mock-up how ‘unflushable blockages’ are formed in real time. It will be piloted across the Severn Trent contract, which serves 4 million properties and 8 million customers across the area. Currently, blockages are the most frequent waste issue reported to all water companies, with around 70% of sewer blockages on the network caused by unflushables, such as fats, oils, grease, wet wipes etc. Amey is hoping that the app will be an effective way to increase customer understanding about the impact unflushables have on the water network, and help to prevent future blockages. Speaking about the app, Ben Hawkins from Amey’s innovation team, said: “The UK water industry spends about £90m a year clearing sewer blockages. Many of these are caused by putting unflushables down the drain. This app is the first of its kind and demonstrates Amey’s commitment to using new technology, in increasingly tech-reliant times, to help our customers visualise and solve these issues.” The app will be launched in 2020.

The team at Online Mortgage Advisor have conducted in-depth analysis on the areas of the country most at risk of flooding in the future. As well as giving users in England an idea of how ‘at risk’ their county and local authority is of flooding as a percentage, the English Flood Predictor tool also demonstrates if their local MP decided to vote for or against new climate change legislation to come into place,  as well as the flood risk for specific MP constituencies. According to the analysis* undertaken, the 10 UK counties with the most risk of flooding in percentage are: ·         East Riding of Yorkshire – 48.2% (% of the county at risk of flooding) ·         Lincolnshire – 33.21% ·         Inner London – 22.8% ·         Somerset – 18.3% ·         Surrey – 11.27% ·         Berkshire – 10.85% ·         Cambridgeshire – 10.83% ·         Leicestershire – 10.45% ·         Norfolk – 10.34% ·         Nottinghamshire – 10.1% Furthermore, the English constituencies with the highest proportion of properties with a ‘high risk’ of flooding, alongside their relevant MP’s voting record, emerged as follows: Constituencies MP’s & Voting Records   Constituency % at ‘High Risk’ MP Name Party Voted? 1 Boston & Skegness 10.81% Matt Warman Conservative Against 2 Runnymeade & Weybridge 8.05% Phillip Hammond Independent For & Against 3 East Devon 6.09% Hugo Swire Conservative Against 4 Calder Valley 4.56% Craig Whittaker Conservative Against 5 Louth & Horncastle 4.21% Victoria Atkins Conservative Against 6 Windsor 4% Adam Afriyie Conservative Against 7 Leeds Central 3.91% Hillary Benn Labour For 8 Loughborough 3.33% Nicky Morgan Conservative Against 9 Westmorland & Lonsdale 3.26% Tim Farron Liberal Democrat For 10 Rochester & Strood 3.25% Kelly Tolhurst Conservative Against Pete Mugleston, Mortgage Expert at Online Mortgage Advisor, commented: “With reports on flood-ravaged towns and villages up and down England dominating the recent news agenda following periods of heavy rain – and many worried about how their homes and areas might fare should the weather take a turn for the worse again – we wanted to showcase to English inhabitants precisely how at risk their homes are of flooding in the future. “With a general election just around the corner, we also built the English Flood Predictor in a bid to help those living in areas at a risk of flooding to understand how much emphasis their local MP’s put on the environment and tackling the effects of global warming.”

Kier is set to continue serving 1.8 million customers across the South West after being named on the new Network Services Alliance (NSA) Water Framework. The contractor was successfully reappointed to the South West Water framework as it continues to develop its long-standing relationship with the national utility. The framework, which is part of AMP7, will begin in April 2020 for an initial three-year period with the potential for a five-year extension.   Under the framework, Kier will continue to deliver both planned and 24/7 reactive services including mains network repair and maintenance, metering, new connections and developer services to SWW customers. A new scope of works for AMP7 will now also include waste reactive network and developer services into the contract. Barry McNicholas, group managing director at Kier Utilities and Rail, said: “It’s testament to our long-standing relationship with South West Water that we have been awarded these ongoing AMP7 works. Delivering quality services for 1.8 million customers in the South West has been our focus for over 25 years and we are looking forward to continuing to ensure this vital infrastructure is maintained to the same high standard and working in collaboration with South West Water to offer an industry leading experience for its customers.” Iain Vosper, South West Water’s Operations Director – Drinking Water Services, added: “The Network Services Alliance (NSA) contract is our most significant operational contract between 2020 and 2025.
 “The NSA contract has been a key strategic contract for SWW that has been successful in delivering network distribution, metering and new connection activity since 2016/17 for both South West Water and Bournemouth Water regions. The collaborative approach the business took to the tender process has resulted in the inclusion of similar activities across the water, wastewater and engineering directorates to target greater efficiencies in activities previously undertaken under separate contracts. “This is an exciting time for South West Water and Kier, as we have both accepted stretching and challenging performance metrics, delivering industry-leading service to our customers.”  

Electrical engineering firm, Smith Brothers Contracting, has secured a position on the Yorkshire Water high-voltage (HV) electrical design, build, and specialist studies services framework – which carries a total forecast value of up to £55m. The framework will deliver high-voltage electrical works and services – including design, build, installation, refurbishment and support – alongside routine planned and reactive inspection and maintenance to Yorkshire Water’s existing high-voltage equipment. The Elland-based power contracting firm will take responsibly for all projects in the west region, for a minimum of four years – to February 2023 – with the first being the design and build of a new 11kV customer substation, and the replacement of a motor control centre (MCC). Dave Ogden, managing director at Smith Brothers said: “We’ve worked with Yorkshire Water for several years, and we’re incredibly proud to have been selected to join such a significant framework. “Our reputation for providing end-to-end services across numerous EPC and maintenance projects undoubtedly worked in our favour, and we’re looking forward to a successful partnership.” Martin Priestley, senior engineering project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “We are confident these appointments will contribute to the consistent and efficient provision of safe, quality, reliable assets, that will in turn help us to ensure we provide the level of service our customers expect and value.” Smith Brothers is a high-voltage power engineering contractor and accredited ICP, specialising in delivering turnkey network connection packages across an array of sectors – including renewable energy, utilities, industrial and commercial.

ENGIE, leading energy and services specialist, has partnered with Edinburgh St James, the 1.7 million sq ft development, to develop and operate a new low carbon decentralised energy scheme, worth £90m.  The 33 year partnership will develop and operate a new low carbon energy scheme at Edinburgh St James, which will: Offer substantial savings in terms of capital and operational expenditure; Save occupiers the costs of onsite plant provision; Serve all homes and businesses at the site with affordable heat and chilled water for cooling (where needed) Ensure cost-savings and a low carbon footprint Encourage sustainability and recycling throughout the site, by using electricity generated from the Energy Centre to supply power elsewhere.  By using a low carbon and cost-effective energy solution through the onsite Combined Cooling, Heat and Power (CCHP) energy centre, ENGIE, who is committed to long-term consumer cost-savings, will meet all residents and occupiers energy needs, right on their doorstep. CCHP typically has an energy efficiency of over 80 per cent compared with 56 per cent for a more conventional system. In addition, allowance has been made for expansion of the service into even more sustainable technologies as they are developed. The new energy centre is a part of the Growth Accelerator Model (GAM) agreement between Edinburgh St James, the Scottish Government and the City of Edinburgh Council. The funding from this innovative partnership is helping to regenerate the capital’s east end, with ENGIE’s recent deal the latest in a series of projects that have already benefitted the local community and city as a whole. ENGIE has been working closely with Edinburgh St James since 2016 when it was appointed preferred bidder, to agree future sustainable energy proposals for the site. Under the terms of the new partnership, ENGIE will design and fit out a basement energy centre and adopt the district heating and cooling network from Edinburgh St James and provide ongoing operation and maintenance, including lifecycle responsibility for the scheme. Andrew Hart, Managing Director for ENGIE’s Urban Energy business, said: “This hugely significant project will be transformational for the city of Edinburgh.  We have been involved in conversations surrounding the future of the scheme for several years so it’s fantastic to have agreed our part in bringing it to fruition. “Too often, energy is an after-thought when it can bring remarkable benefits to a scheme of this size.  The fantastic thing about Edinburgh St James is that they saw very early on, how important a factor this would play in the successful delivery of the scheme. It will also play a role in supporting City of Edinburgh’s target of net zero carbon by 2030. “We have several similar schemes across the country and our unparalleled expertise in district energy, coupled with our capabilities in construction and services, means we are ideally placed to deliver this important project.”  Martin Perry, Director of Development at Edinburgh St James, said: “It became clear from the outset that ENGIE’s commitment to cost-savings in a low carbon environment aligned with ours, CEC and the Scottish Governments aspirations for our existing and future partners, residents and occupiers within the development. “This deal marks another milestone on the road to completing this transformational project for Edinburgh. To have been fortunate enough to agree a partner of the quality of ENGIE takes us another step closer to the project completion and we look forward to a long and successful relationship with one of the very best energy centre operators in Europe.” Cllr Kate Campbell, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “We have set an ambitious target of net zero carbon by 2030, so it’s very welcome that the Edinburgh St James development has plans for a low carbon, energy efficient scheme. The energy centre, which will be delivered as part of the infrastructure agreement with the council, will provide homes and businesses at the site with affordable heat and encourage sustainability by generating power to be used elsewhere” ENGIE is anticipated to complete the centre in late 2019. The retail element of Edinburgh St James is set to open in October 2020. 

Interserve has cemented its successful working relationship with Yorkshire Water by securing a place on two new frameworks. The firm’s water business has been named on the utility’s Complex MEICA Framework and Minor MEICA Framework, worth a combined value of over £1 billion. Yorkshire Water manages the collection, treatment and distribution of water in Yorkshire, supplying 1.2bn litres of drinking water each day and collects, treats and disposes of about 1bn litres of waste water safely back into the environment. The Complex MEICA Framework involves a variety of construction and refurbishment works associated with assets within Yorkshire Water’s operational treatment sites. The Framework will run for an initial five years with a further 36 months extension option. The Minor MEICA Framework will include a range of work on operational treatment site, collection or distribution of assets including process treatment and water retaining structures. These contract wins add to Interserve’s recent success in being included on Yorkshire Water’s Complex and Minor Civil Frameworks. “Having worked with Yorkshire Water for a number of years on previous Frameworks this is another fantastic result for our water business. Interserve Construction works for a range of utility companies in the UK and these contract wins further demonstrate our strong credibility in regulated industries and our successful strategy in accumulating Framework partnerships,” said Chris Tyerman, Infrastructure Managing Director at Interserve Construction. “The team will offer a full range of integrated services to continue to deliver innovative solutions to Yorkshire Water to support them in the delivery outstanding service to their customers whilst adding value to the communities and environment they operate in. This exciting role also broadens Interserve’s presence in the north of England where we already work with Northumbrian Water Group.” Yorkshire Water’s Head of Programme Delivery, Mark Baker, commented: “This is the second phase of our procurement process and we would like to welcome our MEICA Partners to support our ambitions and challenges into AMP7. The MEICA Framework Partners will join our Civils Partners and Yorkshire Water in developing our Enterprise Delivery Model. “Through this new model, we’re looking to form a collaborative, innovative and efficient delivery vehicle with a focus on engineering excellence and our carbon targets, utilising a Programme First approach. We are confident that this will ensure we achieve our challenges going into AMP7.”