Yorkshire Water is about to embark on its largest infrastructure investment of the last 20 years, tackling poor performing assets, as it starts a five-year plan to replace more than 1000km of water mains. In the first year alone, Yorkshire Water is investing £89m to replace 238km or 147 miles
CONSTRUCTION of a crucial £18m surface water drainage system at the giant Teesworks site has reached a vital milestone. Water has now broken through from the River Tees into the South Bank Watercourse, which is designed to handle and manage the extensive quantities of surface water run-off from the Teesworks
Geoscience experts have used their specialist rope access skills and inflatable boats to extract concrete samples from inside Sheffield’s Megatron culvert. The culvert is a concrete tunnel beneath Sheffield that carries the River Sheaf. The work is part of a project that has seen a section of the river uncovered
The Ofwat Innovation Fund will double to £400 million to support projects that could transform the water sector to meet and solve the many challenges it faces. Established in 2020, the original £200 million Ofwat Innovation Fund has been awarded to collaborative projects which see water companies working with promising
Barhale has secured its place on Yorkshire Water’s Complex Non-Infrastructure Framework to support delivery of the water company’s capital investment programme through the forthcoming Asset Management Plan 8 (AMP8) period from April 2025 to 2030. The civil engineering, infrastructure and tunnelling specialist has been appointed to Lot 1 of the
Thames Water has appointed Barhale to carry out the £11.6M East Putney Zone Calming scheme, improving water network resilience for customers in the capital. The project will upgrade the pumping and electrical equipment at the Park Lane pumping station in central London. Four pumps will be upgraded: one each supplying
LEADING engineering consultancy Rodgers Leask has brought its multi-disciplinary offering to the Cotswold Canals Connected project, playing an important part in helping restore the ‘missing mile’ of the Stroudwater Navigation. This ambitious award-winning restoration is the largest, and most complex National Heritage Lottery Funded project in the South-West. Driven by Cotswold
MWH Treatment has completed the detailed design for Severn Trent Water’s state-of-the-art Witches Oak Water Treatment Works in Derbyshire, with civil construction substantially complete and mechanical and electrical installation well advanced for the plant, which will deliver crucial water security for approximately 224,000 households. The new plant will provide an
Costain, the infrastructure solutions company, in partnership with WSP, has been granted funding by Northumbrian Water to develop a new AI-powered platform designed to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data, thereby reducing delivery times for the company’s capital projects during asset management period 8 (AMP8). The funding will enable
Yorkshire Water has appointed BarhaleEnpure JV to deliver two key projects as part of its £500M investment in phosphorus removal under the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP). At Ingbirchworth Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, BarhaleEnpure will construct a single point ferric dosing kiosk and chemical
Yorkshire Water is about to embark on its largest infrastructure investment of the last 20 years, tackling poor performing assets, as it starts a five-year plan to replace more than 1000km of water mains. In the first year alone, Yorkshire Water is investing £89m to replace 238km or 147 miles (equivalent to a return journey from Leeds to Hull) of water mains with durable, flexible plastic pipes. The second year of the programme will see 211km of mains replaced throughout Yorkshire. The new replacement mains are built to withstand high pressure and temperature variations resulting in fewer bursts, lower leakage and a reduction in water supply disruptions to customers. Yorkshire Water is targeting poor performing assets that will benefit most from mains renewal as a priority in areas prone to disruption, bursts and supply interruptions such as Kiverton Park, York, Sheffield, Sowerby Bridge, Harrogate and Stannington. Mains replacement work will take place right across the county from Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Sheffield to the east Yorkshire coast, Hull and North Lincolnshire. York and North Yorkshire will see 43km and 90km of new mains respectively by the end of March 2026, as the county undergoes a major replacement programme. Whilst this large-scale scheme will cause some disruptions along the way, Yorkshire Water’s team is determined to keep this to a minimum as Lee Boshell, capital delivery programme manager, Yorkshire Water, explains: “We have already identified our first two years’ worth of mains replacement and we’re working towards year three of our five-year programme. Having long term visibility of the programme of works allows us to work closely with Local Authorities, Highways and other utility providers, so that we can collaborate with them to renew mains and other services in one go. “This is an important investment for our business and our customers and will help us to improve the performance of our clean water network to reduce leakage and supply interruptions for our customers. We know that delivering this work, which involves relaying mains under busy roads and in major towns and cities in the region, will inevitably cause disruption, but we will be doing everything we can to keep this to a minimum. “We’re deploying trenchless techniques wherever possible to reduce disruption by tunnelling under the road in some instances to prevent the need to dig a trench across a whole street or road. “We will be working hard to provide as much notice as possible to customers, partner organisations, stakeholders and commuters about work happening in their area and proposed timescales.” The mains replacement programme is part of Yorkshire Water’s largest ever environmental investment of £8.3bn to improve infrastructure focussing on issues we know our customers really care about such as: Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
CONSTRUCTION of a crucial £18m surface water drainage system at the giant Teesworks site has reached a vital milestone. Water has now broken through from the River Tees into the South Bank Watercourse, which is designed to handle and manage the extensive quantities of surface water run-off from the Teesworks development. The watercourse will initially manage the large volumes of water draining from the 90-acre SeAH Wind turbine monopile manufacturing facility which is nearing completion. The vast scale of this facility means that rainwater run-off from the development will be significant, particularly under heavy storm conditions. As a result, all developments on the South Bank and Dorman Point areas of Teesworks need to have a means of efficiently discharging surface water so as not to hamper their operations, a role which the South Bank Watercourse performs. Extending up to 8m in depth and 1.9km in length, the new watercourse has been constructed largely as an open channel, natural stream, which supports the mitigation of water pollution through its natural filtration. It incorporates a gravel bed and carefully landscaped banks, discharging to the River Tees. The system also incorporates over 350 linear metres of buried culvert – where the watercourse passes beneath development land. The project incorporates a very large intertidal section where the watercourse meets the river. This will see an ecologically valuable salt marsh habitat created, which will be a natural haven for wildlife. The watercourse features extensive gabion basket walls – cages filled with stones – providing structural support to the open channels in most areas. These have been created using recycled aggregates sourced from land remediation projects on Teesworks – a former steelworks site – in lieu of importing natural quarried stone, saving cost and significantly mitigating the environmental impact of the scheme. In total, over 100,000 cubic metres of recycled aggregates were used on the project. John McNicholas, engineering and programme director at Teesworks, said: “We’re delighted to see the South Bank Watercourse reaching this pivotal milestone. “The sheer scale of the works has been something to behold, but equally, the logistical challenges that have had to be overcome in delivering the scheme through live construction sites where multiple remediation, infrastructure and building projects have been progressing simultaneously. “We are particularly pleased to see the extent to which we have been able to make best use of the resources on our own doorstep, through the extensive recycling of earthworks materials for use in the project’s channel bed and banks.” This important civil engineering project has been carried out by a number of different companies. The main civils contractor for phase one of the project was Hall Construction Services; for the other phases, including the final phase, it has been Applebridge Construction. The overall scope includes the diversion and upgrade of two existing watercourses – Holme Beck and Knitting Wife Beck – traversing the 60ha Dorman Point development zone on Teesworks, which will discharge into the South Bank section. For the Dorman Point section, the main civils contractor for the Holmebeck diversion and upgrade was Seymour Civil Engineering Ltd and for the Knitting Wife Beck diversion and upgrade first phase, it was Hall Construction Services Limited. The primary subcontractors used on the project were Phi Group on phase one, providing gabion basket retaining wall construction, and Enviromesh on subsequent phases, also providing gabion basket retaining wall construction. Following the watercourse works completion, the next phase of similar works will see the construction of the £3m second and final phase of the Knitting Wife Beck diversion on Dorman Point , followed by the £10m reconstruction of an existing four-bay bridge underpass beneath the Saltburn to Darlington railway corridor, which will enable the Holmebeck and Knitting Wife Beck channels on Dorman Point to connect through to the South Bank Watercourse. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Geoscience experts have used their specialist rope access skills and inflatable boats to extract concrete samples from inside Sheffield’s Megatron culvert. The culvert is a concrete tunnel beneath Sheffield that carries the River Sheaf. The work is part of a project that has seen a section of the river uncovered for the first time in 100 years. It is located in the centre of Sheffield, where the River Sheaf meets the River Don, and is part of a larger £15 million endeavour to create a new public park. The 70-metre-long culvert was built over a section of the River Sheaf in 1917, as part of work to create the Castle Market, at a time when the river was badly polluted with sewage and slaughterhouse run-off, according to Sheffield City Council. RSK Geosciences project manager Stephen Owen said: “Two buildings, Alexandra House and Exchange Place Studios, stand close to the edge of the culvert. Before the culvert can be removed, it is necessary to understand what is behind the concrete and how this could affect the structural integrity of these nearby buildings.” Stephen explained that they carried out ground-penetrating radar surveys above ground, in addition to collecting vertical and horizontal concrete cores from inside the culvert. Five horizontal concrete cores and three vertical cores were taken. Endoscope surveys of the core holes were carried out, along with covermeter surveys – a method of using electromagnetic measurements to measure the position, depth and size of the reinforcements within the concrete – of the walls, arches and roof of the culvert. He said: “We accessed part of the culvert through a manhole, but an underground weir blocked us from going further downstream. Fellow RSK Group company CAN Structures used its expertise in rope access and confined spaces work to go up the culvert on an inflatable boat and take the surveys for this area. “Being a river, the flow and water level can change quickly, so there were some significant health and safety precautions to be taken. There is also a nesting bat population inside the culvert, so to avoid causing disturbance we had to work outside of the hibernation season.” Concrete quality testing was carried out on recovered samples and the data included in the final report for Sheffield City Council. This report will inform the planning and design process on how to remove the culvert without affecting the nearby buildings, Stephen said. Sheffield City Councillor Ben Miskell, who chairs the council’s Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee said: “For more than 100 years the River Sheaf, which gave the city its name, has been covered by brick and concrete. Uncovering the river is an incredibly important milestone and just one part of the wider transformation of the Castlegate site. Our new city centre public park will also feature the remains of the city’s old 12th century castle, including the gatehouse, visible to the public. The whole area is pivotal to the history of our fantastic city and our new park will showcase this most historic of areas for decades to come.” Removal of the culvert began in August 2024, with Sheffield City Council’s final vision due to be completed by 2026. The site will also include new buildings for commercial, community or education use. Funding for the project has already been secured through funding from central Government. The opening up of the River Sheaf is being streamed online by the Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
The Ofwat Innovation Fund will double to £400 million to support projects that could transform the water sector to meet and solve the many challenges it faces. Established in 2020, the original £200 million Ofwat Innovation Fund has been awarded to collaborative projects which see water companies working with promising innovators from across different sectors and around the world to develop and deploy solutions to the water sector’s biggest challenges. Today’s announcement will extend the fund for a further five years to 2030. The fund was highlighted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer following a meeting of UK regulators on 16 January as one of a number of promising ways in which regulators are supporting the Government’s plan for economic growth. Investment expenditure is set to quadruple over the next five years as part of a wider £104 billion plan for the sector. Helen Campbell, Senior Director for Sector Performance, Ofwat, said: “There’s no question that the water sector faces many urgent challenges – reaching net zero emissions, ending the overuse of storm overflows, preventing leaks, and adapting to the impact of climate change – all while ensuring customers are properly served and enabling economic growth. Our £400m commitment to continued investment in innovation will support highly collaborative projects to develop and deploy solutions to these enormous challenges. While the first five years championed nascent technologies and new approaches to demonstrate their future potential, the next five years must see them scale and deliver a lasting and beneficial impact for customers, society and the environment”. Through multiple competitions (four Water Breakthrough Challenges, the first Water Discovery Challenge – plus the pilot Innovation in Water Competition in 2020), the fund has so far supported 93 projects involving more than 240 partners, including water companies, universities, environmental charities, local governments, civil society organisations and other utilities. The fifth Water Breakthrough Challenge is underway and the winners will be announced in Spring 2025. Previous winners have included robots that spot cracks from inside pipes, seagrass restoration projects, citizen science initiatives, partnerships to help communities adapt to increased rainfall and new ways to process sewage sludge to destroy forever chemicals. The funding for the next five years will see further annual Water Breakthrough Challenges, focused on innovative ideas from consortia led by water companies, and at least two more Water Discovery Challenges, seeking groundbreaking ideas to revolutionise the water sector from companies outside the industry. It will also introduce three new funding streams to support the implementation and scaling of successful innovations, solutions which require collaboration across the entire sector, and challenges across other sectors. The water sector must transform its environmental impact whilst encouraging growth, and innovation is crucial to end the overuse of storm overflows, cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce leaks. It must innovate to continue improving services for customers, provide value and meet the high standards that the public demands. Collaboration is at the core of the innovation fund – it fosters new thinking and new approaches to develop effective solutions that are fit for the future. The Ofwat Innovation Fund will be delivered by innovation prize experts, Challenge Works (a Nesta enterprise), in collaboration with Arup and Isle Utilities. Natalie Wadley, CEO of ChangeMaker 3D, a partner in Water Breakthrough Challenge 3 winning project, Water Industry Printfrastructure, said: “The Ofwat funding has quite simply been game changing for both our company and the development of Printfrastructure as a positive impact for the UK water sector. The funding has unlocked new jobs for our business, five new products, a patented design and a significant opportunity to add value in the next five years. We are incredibly proud to work alongside all of the project partners, United Utilities, Scottish Water and Print City, in what has been the most trailblazing project to date. This project has truly delivered several UK firsts, pushed all of the technology boundaries and demonstrated how we can return tangible value to water customers.” Paul Lavender, UK Water Utilities Director at Royal HaskoningDHV, a partner in Water Breakthrough Challenge 4 winning project, Biopolymers in the Circular Economy, said: “As a technology provider, we highly value this centralised innovation funding approach for its role in supporting the development of large, impactful projects. We’ve witnessed strong collaboration among partners who share a unified vision to address major industry challenges, effectively bridging gaps across the supply chain. We’re excited about the next steps, as engagement with the water company project partners and widespread industry dissemination will help us to develop new opportunities.” Professor Ana Soares from Cranfield University, a leader and partner on multiple Ofwat Innovation Fund winning projects, including Water Discovery Challenge winner, Innovative Coagulant Free Phosphorus Removal Technology, said: “Having participated in three Ofwat Innovation Fund challenges, I have witnessed firsthand how the programme nurtures collaborative innovation, transformative projects addressing strategic challenges, and the introduction of fresh perspectives from new innovators. The programme is inclusive, supporting every stage from the conception of new ideas to their practical implementation. It supports ambitious projects that address long-term challenges such as climate change, resource efficiency, and resilience, while embracing inclusivity, leveraging leading-edge technologies and services, and ensuring tangible benefits for customers, communities, and the environment.” To find out more about the Ofwat Innovation Fund and its previous winners, visit waterinnovation.challenges.org Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Barhale has secured its place on Yorkshire Water’s Complex Non-Infrastructure Framework to support delivery of the water company’s capital investment programme through the forthcoming Asset Management Plan 8 (AMP8) period from April 2025 to 2030. The civil engineering, infrastructure and tunnelling specialist has been appointed to Lot 1 of the AMP8 framework, for complex works, with Yorkshire Water retaining the option to extend for up to a further five years through the AMP9 period. Delivery of the £850M lot will cover both water and wastewater sites with projects typically ranging from £1m to £35m although with no upper limit. Project scope includes, although is not limited to: pre-construction survey and investigation; design and construction management; design and build based on client’s concept design; and site works (construction, civils, process, mechanical, electrical, controls and instrumentation). Services will include, design, construction, civil engineering, and process works, (encompassing mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and telemetry). The framework will require strong programme management, progress and performance reporting, quality management and commissioning. Mark Wood, Regional Director (Yorkshire) at Barhale, is looking forward to building on the relationship his team established through AMP7 and to working with Yorkshire Water on its largest-ever capital investment programme. “There is a very large and exciting plan for the next five years and beyond,” he said. “It will help to improve water quality and network resilience, reduce carbon footprint and enhance bio-diversity and deliver a better customer experience across the region. “The programme will continue Yorkshire Water’s focus on value, innovation and improved environmental performance. It will build on the legacy established in AMP7 of delivering large-scale improvements to existing infrastructure alongside groundbreaking projects – such as Clifton Wetlands where we were proud to play our part in the creation of a sustainable and low-carbon, nature-based solution that replaced a conventional wastewater treatment facility. “The long contract term will allow Barhale to continue to grow as a business and to invest in our team. Our graduate programme will have a strong base to build on and as we move into the full design and build sector for civil and mechanical and electrical projects and provides us with the opportunity to become a full multi-disciplinary principle contractor construction business.” Rachael Fox, head of programme delivery at Yorkshire Water, said: “We’re looking forward to working with our chosen partners as we embark on an ambitious investment programme from 2025. There’s a big challenge ahead – not only to meet new regulatory requirements, but to meet customer expectations too – and effective collaboration will be key to our success.” Barhale is joined on the Non-Infrastructure Framework Lot 1 framework by Ward and Burke Construction Ltd, Tilbury Douglas Construction Limited, Mott MacDonald Bentley Ltd, Galliford Try Construction Limited, Kier Integrated Services Ltd, and Glanua Ltd. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Thames Water has appointed Barhale to carry out the £11.6M East Putney Zone Calming scheme, improving water network resilience for customers in the capital. The project will upgrade the pumping and electrical equipment at the Park Lane pumping station in central London. Four pumps will be upgraded: one each supplying water to Putney, Barrow Hill and Shoot Up Hill, and a standby able to supply water to all three locations. Civil engineering, infrastructure and tunnelling specialist Barhale will replace all four of the existing, high voltage pump motors with low voltage, variable speed models that will allow Thames Water to operate the network at a reduced pressure. This will fix pressure issues, and the likelihood of surges of water in the system, which will reduce the risk of bursts and leakage, particularly in East Putney. Barhale will also upgrade the electrical control systems; install new flow control monitoring; replace the existing ventilation within the pumping station with a fully redundant and resilient design; carry out an overhaul of the lighting and water services; and remove all redundant equipment. Shane Gorman, Barhale’s Water Director – Southern, explained the importance of the work and highlighted the operational challenges. “The successful delivery of the East Putney Zone Calming scheme will be a step-change for operation of the water network at Park Lane,” he said. “Replacing the existing fixed speed motors with variable speed motors will transform control of water pressure within the tunnels. For customers, this means a more resilient network and it will significantly reduce the likelihood of leakage. “It is fair to say that there are certain logistical challenges. The site is literally in the middle of Park Lane, one of the busiest thoroughfares in London, with three lanes of traffic flowing either side night and day. “It means that work, and particularly deliveries and access to the site, will need to be planned and managed meticulously. We will be drawing on the experience gained at other busy London locations and in collaboration of the local authority, to make sure that operations are conducted as safely as possible and with a minimum of disruption. “We are looking forward to working with Thames Water to deliver this important scheme.” Commenting on the major upgrade, Roselyn Unegbu, Delivery Director, London Non-Infrastructure, Thames Water said: “This investment is essential to upgrading our Ring Main, ensuring Londoners can count on clean, reliable drinking water for decades to come. It will also help us drive down leakage and reduce the risk of bursts.” Work is expected to complete in September 2027. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
LEADING engineering consultancy Rodgers Leask has brought its multi-disciplinary offering to the Cotswold Canals Connected project, playing an important part in helping restore the ‘missing mile’ of the Stroudwater Navigation. This ambitious award-winning restoration is the largest, and most complex National Heritage Lottery Funded project in the South-West. Driven by Cotswold Canals Connected, a partnership led by Stroud District Council and Cotswold Canals Trust, it aims to re-establish a section of canal that was filled in during the creation of the M5 motorway in the 1960s Led from their Bristol office, Rodgers Leask’s civil, structural and geo-environmental engineering teams bring a multi-disciplinary approach to the project, in which they are working closely with the charity’s project delivery team to meet the challenging technical, budgetary and delivery demands of the scheme. The team is designing a replacement aqueduct that will allow the canal to cross over Oldbury Brook once again. The work involves developing an initial concept for the aqueduct and adjoining John Robinson Lock and detailing key components such as a triple pipe culvert arrangement and protective cover slab. Retaining walls have been designed using modular bag units to fulfil the design brief for a sturdy but simple solution that will allow the charity volunteers to actively participate in construction. By simplifying material choices, the engineering consultancy has been able to keep construction costs low while ensuring the project meets the high standards that it sets itself and end users of the canal would expect. Dave Bathurst, regional director for Rodgers Leask in Bristol, said: “The solutions being developed are a blend of technicality and practicality, which wouldn’t be possible without determined coordination and collaboration with Cotswold Canal Connected and enthusiasm for design excellence within our team. At the heart of this project is a sense of social value that will be returned to an impressive but long forgotten connection to our industrial past. Once restored the canal will take on a new, but no less important purpose, as an amenity for local people. Trading its initial use for transporting coal and other important goods, for one that will facilitate leisure and tourism. “For Rodgers Leask, this project represents another successful example of our growing portfolio of canals and waterways projects that also includes recent involvement in the restoration of Chesterfield Canal.” The `Missing Mile’ is a key part of the second phase of the Cotswold Canals Connected project. It promises numerous benefits for the region including the creation of a new community-led wildlife corridor with conservation and biodiversity projects. In addition to these environmental advantages, the restored canal is expected to become a vibrant tourist destination, celebrating the area’s rich industrial heritage and boosting the local economy. Chris Mitford-Slade, project manager at Cotswold Canals Connected, said: “The restoration of this section of the canal is an exciting step forward for both the local community and the environment. It will create a space that blends heritage and habitat for the benefit of all.” The Cotswold Canals Connected project is enabled by the work of the charity Cotswold Canals Trust. For further information, membership enquiries and volunteering opportunities, visit https://cotswoldcanals.org/ For more information on Rodgers Leask, visit https://rodgersleask.com/ Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
MWH Treatment has completed the detailed design for Severn Trent Water’s state-of-the-art Witches Oak Water Treatment Works in Derbyshire, with civil construction substantially complete and mechanical and electrical installation well advanced for the plant, which will deliver crucial water security for approximately 224,000 households. The new plant will provide an additional average flow of 65 million litres per day and increase resilience of the Derwent Valley aqueduct (DVA) network, which supplies the East Midlands grid. The project is part of Severn Trent Water’s £566 million Green Recovery Programme, with MWH Treatment, an RSK Group company, appointed as principal contractor and designer, drawing on the company’s specific skills across design, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning. MWH Treatment was also able to incorporate its recent design and construction experience with Severn Trent Water’s Church Wilne granular activated carbon plant. MWH Treatment Project Director Richard Thomson said the project team had installed the innovative ceramic membrane pressure vessels, pipework, pumps and ancillary equipment. All the other process plant has been manufactured and installed during the summer months to make the most of the dry weather. The complex electrical control panels have been factory tested, installed and are now being connected for commissioning. The HV network was energised in October which is a major milestone achievement and has allowed commissioning to commence. He said: “The ceramic membrane technology offers advantages, such as effective removal of pathogens, suspended solids and organic compounds to produce high-quality water. Ceramic membranes provide efficient microfiltration with superior fouling resistance, easier cleaning, higher flux rates and lower maintenance requirements. Ceramics have stronger mechanical strength, enabling them to handle higher solids loading and ensuring a longer asset life of 25 years.” MWH Treatment has utilised digital delivery tools, including digital surveying, interactive visualisations, intelligent 3D models, 4D rehearsals and digital inspection and test plan field management. Richard said: “In the hands of experienced engineers, these tools enable much greater project efficiency, with 3D elevating the design process and allowing construction sequencing and overlapping of site activities to optimise the schedule and reduce build time. “The ability to view the project in such intricate detail, effectively being able to see inside the 3D model for the treatment works, offers real game-changing opportunities for project management. It becomes a truly interactive experience and one in which we can engage all our supply chain partners. Also, with multiple teams carrying out work across the site, being able to visualise who is working where and the challenges and opportunities this can create is a considerable step up from the 2D drawings of the past. This enhances the health and safety of the site team by improving communication and reducing risks.” Richard said project highlights included a £7.4 million saving achieved by identifying the opportunity to use existing capacity for sludge management at Derby Sewage Works rather than providing sludge dewatering at Witches Oak. A further £1.6 million saving was generated through a whole life cost appraisal of an OSEC system versus sodium hypochlorite. This value engineering has funded additional scope that has improved process resilience on the new plant and been used to mitigate project risks. Owing to the water quality challenges in treating the River Trent, and the new technologies being implemented, Severn Trent Water conducted a comprehensive series of pilot trials, which provided invaluable data to confirm the basis of design and operating parameters. A second pilot plant is now treating the Derwent raw water so that the commissioning parameters can be confirmed based on seasonal variations throughout 2024. As a result, the process designers have introduced two raw water balance tanks to the project. This will allow blending, storage and control of the flow from the abstractions at Witches Oak lakes and River Derwent upstream of the in-line coagulation and adsorption (ILCA). Richard said: “Next steps for this project include collaborative planning and implementing complex commissioning processes to allow all the new assets to be brought into service safely. MWH Treatment’s experienced commissioning engineers will train the Severn Trent Water operators to give them confidence to run the plant. This will ensure compliance with the stringent water quality standards set by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.” He said that a new high-voltage power supply has been provided by National Grid and this would improve water supply resilience to customers. The team aims to have water into supply by the end of May next year, with project completion following in December 2025 after process optimisation and performance testing. In addition to MWH Treatment, other RSK companies are carrying out work as part of the project. These include Stephenson Halliday (landscape appraisal), ADAS (soil surveys), Hollywood Civil Engineering (high voltage substation and backwash buried pipework), LDE (specialist surveys), CR Civil Engineering (ILCA coffer dam and excavation) and Cognica (operations and maintenance manuals). Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Costain, the infrastructure solutions company, in partnership with WSP, has been granted funding by Northumbrian Water to develop a new AI-powered platform designed to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data, thereby reducing delivery times for the company’s capital projects during asset management period 8 (AMP8). The funding will enable Costain and WSP to develop a proof-of-concept for WISDOM – Wastewater Insights for Standardisation, Delivery, Operation and Maintenance – a platform that uses generative AI technology to capture, standardise and analyse large volumes of data from a variety of sources, providing a comprehensive intelligent database of operational assets. With AMP8 investment programmes likely to see a doubling of investment from the previous cycle, and a corresponding increase in asset interventions, capital delivery and operational teams need to manage and evaluate larger, more complex sets of data for compliance purposes. The WISDOM AI platform would seek to optimise, combine and process huge datasets, providing richer insight into operational performance for capital delivery teams working on AMP8 projects. The expectation is that the platform will reduce the need for wastewater works managers to repeatedly provide and analyse operational data for delivery teams, thereby reducing time spent on data entry which can be up to 45% of their working week. This will in turn improve overall delivery times and potentially save more than £10m for Northumbrian Water over the course of the AMP8 lifecycle. The idea was developed during Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival, where Costain and WSP were challenged with the task of revolutionising the designing and building of wastewater assets during the AMP8 investment cycle. Costain and WSP will deliver strategic infrastructure upgrades for the water company’s AMP8 investment programme. Gavin Stonard, framework director at Costain, commented: “Capital delivery programmes in AMP8 – which will see a doubling of investment on wastewater assets compared with AMP7 – will require enormous volumes of data to be gathered and analysed for design, operational and compliance purposes. This will be a considerable challenge and will not be accomplished using existing techniques. “Working closely with WSP and Northumbrian Water and using cutting-edge generative AI technology, we will provide teams with the information they need quickly and efficiently. This will be a first-of-a-kind solution for the water sector, and one that could have significant benefits in improving productivity, reducing delivery times and creating better outcomes for Northumbrian Water customers. “It’s hugely exciting to be taking this idea to proof-of-concept stage. Being at the forefront of innovation is a testament to the enterprising culture that Northumbrian Water has fostered with its suppliers.” Michelle Johnson, technical director, WSP, commented: “We quickly recognised the challenge facing Northumbrian Water and that solving it required new and radical thinking. The Innovation Festival allowed us to stretch the boundaries and consider the adoption of new technologies, such as generative AI, and apply them to a capital delivery setting. We’re looking forward to taking WISDOM to the next level with the hope that, if successful, we can roll it out and make important savings throughout AMP8.” Richard Seales, head of engineering, Northumbrian Water, commented: “Coming up with fresh ways of thinking about the delivery of new and upgraded wastewater assets is not easy, but Costain and WSP have more than risen to the challenge, and their energy and enthusiasm has been plain to see. This was one of the standout ideas from our Innovation Festival and we’re excited to see how its application could solve a big challenge facing the whole of the water sector.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Yorkshire Water has appointed BarhaleEnpure JV to deliver two key projects as part of its £500M investment in phosphorus removal under the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP). At Ingbirchworth Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, BarhaleEnpure will construct a single point ferric dosing kiosk and chemical storage facility while at Pocklington WwTW in North Yorkshire, the joint venture will be introducing ferric dosing alongside wider measures including the replacement of the existing stormwater tank. BarhaleEnpure will also be carrying out M&E upgrades across the Pocklington site and refurbishing six redundant sand filters and associated equipment. Many cleaning chemicals, such as washing up liquid and shampoo, routinely contain small quantities of phosphorous and it can enter the water system wherever these products are used. Phosphorous is also used in fertilisers and can enter water courses after running off agricultural fields. The project aims to reduce total phosphorus (annual average) from 1 mg/1 to 0.25 mg/l to improve overall water quality. Barhale contract manager Nick Smith explained that while re-engineering the existing storm tank at Pocklington had been explored, Barhale and Yorkshire Water teams had concluded that replacement would offer the best P-removal solution. “We originally planned to resize the current storm tank structures, rather than knocking them down and building new, to accelerate the build programme,” he said. “Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible, and therefore we will need to replace the old tank. “The upgrades at Ingbirchworth and Pocklington will introduce modern dosing capabilities, improve the quality of water in our rivers and strengthen network resilience. We look forward to working closely with Yorkshire Water to complete these two important projects.” Work is expected to complete in spring 2025. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
