Water Utilities Construction

With the construction industry slowly beginning to emerge from the worst of the COVID-19 lockdown, construction of water utilities work is coming through the pipelines.

The latest round of water utilities spending, which is known as AMP7, and is running until 2025, is beginning to kick in, with Amey securing a £100 million extension on the contractor’s existing reactive and maintenance agreement with Yorkshire Council.

Operation Contract Manager at Yorkshire Water Nicola Shirley said: “We have some challenging performance targets for AMP7 and, working with Amey, we will positively contribute to the Performance Commitments we have for flooding and pollution.”

With spending from AMP7 set to accelerate from spring 2020 onward, Yorkshire Water last year awarded 11 companies places on its £1 billion AMP7 complex and minor Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, Control and Automation (MEICA) frameworks, which are set to run until 2025.

Mark Baker is Head of Programme Delivery at the utility. He said: “The MEICA Framework Partners will join our civils partners and Yorkshire Water in developing our enterprise delivery model.”

Projects in this procurement pipeline also include a £4 million reservoir at Boston Park, with research from Glenigan showing that contactor MMB is expected to start work later this year.

Many other projects are benefiting from new work thanks to the AMP7 programme, including Welsh Water which has renewed its asset management contract with Skanska.  Skanska’s new five-year deal is valued at £193 million and will start this Spring (2020).

Overall, Welsh Water is investing £2.3 billion improving its network of 26,500km of water mains, 30,000km of sewers and 838 sewage treatment works, along with improving 66 impounding reservoirs. The utility will also be procuring other works, including a £1 million deal to repair Llyn Brianne Dam in Dyfed, with research showing this job is currently in the tender stage. Further research shows that Welsh Water is amongst the water industry’s top 100 clients in the 12 months to Q1 in 2020.

Thames Water, traditionally one of the biggest spending water utilities, is procuring a capital projects framework for its £2.3 billion AMP7 spending commitments. Other individual Thames Water projects which are coming up include the £80 million plan to relocate sewage treatment works in Guilford, with applications for tender now having been received, and with research from Glenigan showing that a start date is due towards the late part of this year.

Tenders have already been returned for Scottish Water’s £450 million infrastructure delivery framework. Work is due to start on this in 2021, and a further boost in spending is expected.

Glenigan’s Economics Director, Allan Wilén, said: “The new investment AMP7 programme will begin to lift industry spending from April 2020, and water industry work will begin to flow next year with investments of £50 billion planned up to 2025.”

This piece originally was published by Glenigan

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