United Utilities is one of the largest operator of water systems in the UK. The company owns and operates the water network in North West England and supplies 2,000 million litres of water every day via a network of around 40,000 kilometres of water mains, 1,444 kilometres of aqueduct and over 100 water treatment works. It serves a population approaching seven million people that includes 2.9 million households and business premises. The business is also a provider of water and wastewater services to over 400 industrial and commercial enterprises. Its 600 wastewater treatment works treat 2,200 million litres of wastewater every day via a network of around 39,000 kilometres of sewers.
United Utilities is investing around £1.5 billion on its Non-Infrastructure Capital Programme in AMP 4 and the Integrated Alliance is responsible for delivering £800 million of this investment. This includes over 200 water and wastewater treatment projects ranging in value from £2 million to £50 million. The Integrated Alliance is a partnership of MWH, KMI+, GCA Joint Venture and United Utilities. MWH's role is as the Solution Services Partner (SSP), working with UU's in-house engineering teams to identify and develop project solutions for the Process Partners to construct.
The role of MWH
In AMP4 UU engaged MWH to play its part in a groundbreaking approach to partnership working. MWH's role within the Alliance involves developing the design solutions, culminating in the production of a project solution scope book. This comprises a detailed escription, specification, design and drawings for the scope of works to be performed. The construction partner performs the detailed design, construction and commissioning for the project.
The MWH team working in the Integrated Alliance peaked atover 120 staff and has worked extremely effectively to help deliver UU's regulatory outputs while delivering savings and efficiencies. The key engineering disciplines involved include civil, mechanical, electrical, process and CAD, together with administration and support staff. MWH has also provided project control staff to assist with the management of the programme. The duties of these staff include regular project performance updates into Primavera P3e and progress analysis and reporting.
The Integrated Alliance Partnership
The partners in the Integrated Alliance have overcome barriers including differences in organisational cultures, logistical challenges and issues relating to the use of different IT systems, business systems and processes. The Alliance has developed into a seamless team driving efficiency, sharing best practice and delivering innovative engineering solutions on time and on budget. The Alliance has made health and safety its first priority and has an Accident Frequency Rate well below the industry average. Its commitment to health and safety was demonstrated by the effective way in which the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2007 have been integrated into its practices.
The Alliance began with an intense series of workshops and planning sessions to ensure that people and resources from different businesses were brought together and enabled to work efficiently and effectively as a team. This was driven by a commitment from all partners to collaborate and support each other to achieve common objectives. A joint 'transition team' was formed to facilitate early organisational activities and to manage change. An organisational structure was developed jointly by the partners and key appointments were made, based on a 'best-person-for-the-job' principle.
This has created an unusual situation with leadership roles held by the most appropriate person regardless of their 'home' organisation and with reporting lines crossing organisations. Projects had commenced under an 'Early Start Programme' resourced through the AMP3 delivery teams. The Integrated Alliance quickly adopted these projects and kept the momentum going whilst developing its own terms of reference and operating basis. A great deal of effort went into a project to integrate the IT software and hardware.
The logistical challenges were solved by co-locating staff from different partners in UU's offices in Warrington. Agreed rules, shared business processes and systems were established to facilitate partnership working. By March 2006, the transition was complete and the 600-strong Alliance, complete with its organisational structure, IT infrastructure, business process and systems and team resources, had evolved.