The abstraction and treatment of borehole water for mains supply on 15 sites throughout the Severn Trent Water region.

Value: around £22 million

Objective: to develop a new process for the treatment of trace elements in borehole water and to deliver the design and construction of the works.

As a forerunner to the Enhanced Water Treatment Project (EWTP), Interserve Water combined their resources with those of Severn Trent Water and the supply chain initially to design and then subsequently build a trial treatment facility at Burton Joyce WTW in Nottinghamshire. An integrated team was established to develop the process design and prepare the detailed engineering design.

After the successful trialing of the pilot treatment facility and following a competitive bidding process, Interserve were awarded a contract to produce an outline design and agree a Target Cost for a further eight sites across the Severn Trent area. During the construction of Phase I a second phase was negotiated with Interserve for a further seven sites.

Specific techniques employed included:

• Value engineering of the detailed design and specification to "just good enough" standards.
• Close working with the supply chain to develop optimised solutions, particularly for the supply of media, pressure vessels and control panels.
• Integrated teamworking with regular review of key performance indicators (KPI's) measuring the performance of the integrated Severn Trent and Interserve team.
• Target cost setting; regular detailed review of cost forecasts; pain/gain sharing on final out-turn cost.
• Joint risk register developed, monitored and managed, including pre and post award risks.
• Early selection of key supply chain partners, who participated fully in the development and progress of the project.
• A completely open book policy between Severn Trent Water and Interserve sharing one set of "accounts".
• Continuity of staff employed to ensure knowledge capture, standardisation and facilitate continuous improvement across the fifteen sites.

Result

A successful project, giving Severn Trent Water proven value for money and a high degree of operational functionality.

Benefits:

• Focussed team approach giving certainty of out-turn in cost, quality and programme.
• Continuous improvement to capital and operational expenditure from Phase I to Phase II demonstrated through value analysis.
• Better understanding and sharing of each company's drivers and principles for future integrated working.

Lessons Learned:

The regular measurement and monitoring of the team's performance, utilising key performance indicators, enabled critical issues to be addressed promptly and ever-improving delivery of the Enhanced Water Treatment Programme.

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