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Under the eight-year contract, The water company is joining forces with Costain, Farrans, Jacobs and Mott MacDonald Bentley to complete what it describes as “one of the largest strategic water infrastructure projects the UK has ever seen”.
The programme, part of Anglian’s 25-year water resources management plan, expects to make the East resilient to the risks of drought by securing water supplies for future generations.
The plan is to create up to 500km of interconnecting pipes and associated pumping equipment, as well as upgrading existing infrastructure to allow water transfer across Anglian Water’s region.
It will transfer water from areas of water surplus in north Lincolnshire down, to the south and east of the region, where it is less readily available.
Strategic pipeline alliance director James Crompton, said: “The challenges of population growth and a changing climate are felt nowhere more keenly than here in the East of England, which is one of the driest parts of the UK. Starting this project is a significant part of our planned investment in the region over the next five years, which will begin to tackle those challenges and secure customer supplies well into the future.
“The programme will make it possible to reduce the amount of water taken from the environment, as well as strengthening resilience by reducing the number of homes and businesses which rely on a single water source.
“It will be a complex and challenging major infrastructure development. It presents an exciting opportunity for these civil engineering, design and construction experts and we’re delighted to have four such prestigious partners on board.”
Anglian Water has used alliance working before. In 2015, it signed 15-year contracts with its existing partners but recognised the need for specialist engineering and construction for such a large-scale project. The tendering process to form the new strategic alliance began last year.
James Crompton continued: “We’ve seen how successful and powerful a truly integrated and collaborative alliancing approach can be and now we’re building on it. Each of our new partners bring not only a wealth of experience but they also bring new mindsets, thinking and innovation for what is an incredibly exciting project, but also collectively, one of the largest investments in our water infrastructure we’ve made in recent years.”
Costain chief executive Alex Vaughan said: "By bringing together and integrating our programme management consultancy, digital twin expertise and complex programme delivery capabilities, Costain, as part of this newly formed alliance, will help Anglian Water as it strategically addresses the challenges it faces in this dry region.
"Once complete, the contract will see new systems and assets, within a digital framework working together with existing networks to provide Anglian Water greater flexibility in how it manages water supply and growing demand."
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