Mott MacDonald Bentley and Severn Trent Water celebrates Team Achievement success
- Hannah Tetlow
- Jul 23
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 28
Held this year at the Crowne Plaza in Nottingham, the annual ICE East Midlands Merit Awards (EMMAs) recognise brilliant projects, teamwork and engineering excellence across the region.
The Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB) and Severn Trent team involved in the delivery of the Ompton Ultra Violet (UV) emergency response scheme proudly took home the Team Achievement merit award, for demonstrating exceptional collaboration that ultimately compressed a two-year design and build programme into just four weeks.
Following heavy rainfall and flooding in Nottinghamshire brought on by Storm Babet in 2023, Severn Trent’s water treatment works facility at Ompton suffered water quality issues, placing the critical asset offline. Despite multiple challenges including winter weather, poor ground conditions, difficult pipework integration with existing assets, and procurement delays on pipework and fittings, the team successfully designed, constructed, installed and commissioned a new UV system - capable of pumping 20 million litres of water per day - by the end of January 2024.
Collaborating effectively on this project enabled a ‘right first time’ solution against an extremely tight deadline. Everybody involved worked together to realise design efficiencies, share knowledge between disciplines, and drive high-level communication with all stakeholders. A robust programme of works was clearly mapped, with key milestones and daily planning boards facilitating timely progress on this critical scheme.
The judges recognised the project’s impressive speed of delivery and rapid mobilisation to meet a challenging deadline, which demanded first-class planning and co-operation at all levels. The project team clearly excelled in quick decision-making, adapting to daily changes, and managing a multi-layered programme of works in co-ordination with multiple suppliers and subcontractors.
Commenting on the win, MMB Director Frances Elwell said,
"Winning this award is a fantastic result and exemplifies the strengths of our diverse and talented teams when faced with emergency delivery challenges. We know we are at our best when working as one team with our client and supply chain, and with that approach we can deliver rapid solutions for our clients and their customers.”
