In Cambridgeshire, we constructed a new 40 megalitre service reservoir and associated infrastructure - one of the largest schemes in our history. The project, which is the largest precast concrete reservoir in the UK, provides resilience to Grafham Water Treatment Works. In a ‘resilience event’, the final solution will enable flows in the existing trunk main to be reversed, re-zoning the entire network and ensuring continuity of supply.

We have constructed a new 18ML twin-compartment service reservoir with 1.4km scour pipeline in Disley, Cheshire, using pre-cast concrete technology. Minimising disruption to the local community is particularly important at Jacksons Edge. To manage this, the programme has been expedited, and by using ‘productisation’ – manufacturing off-site – we are further reducing the length of time we are actually required on site.

In 2013 we brought to a close the construction of the Covenham to Boston Pipeline, a 61km polyethylene pipeline running across Lincolnshire. The 27 million litres per day transfer pipeline was required to address a water supply/demand deficit in the growing town of Boston in Lincolnshire. By reusing and improving existing assets – and providing new assets – the water supply for a population forecast to reach 101,000 by 2035 has been secured.

At Rivelin Water Treatment Works we are constructing seven new clarifiers, three new rapid gravity filters, extending the washwater recovery facilities and replacing existing filter media. The project will improve the water treatment process for to up to 250,000 Yorkshire Water customers in the Sheffield area. 110,000 tonnes of earth and stone were excavated to create room for the base for the new treatment building. This material will be re-used to almost entirely bury the new clarifier building; this will minimise the visual impact on the surrounding Rivelin Valley, which lies adjacent to the Peak District National Park.

Our team carrying out a project at Butterley Reservoir dealt with much scrutiny from the public and media in their delivery of refurbishments to a listed spillway, first built in 1906. Initial objections were raised when our client announced plans to make safe the only Grade II listed Victorian spillway in the country. Popular with tourists, the spillway controls the flow of water from the reservoir, safely ensuring it does not overtop and damage or erode the embankment. By using sympathetic design and construction methods and engaging with the local community, supporting local events and schools, the team has alleviated initial concerns and now, once complete, the improvements to the spillway will help maintain its legacy long into the future. Local dignitaries, including Jason McCartney MP, praised the high standards on site and the communications and community engagement efforts were recognised at the prestigious Chartered Institute of Public Relations awards.

We were a member of Severn Trent Water’s successful e5 Major Projects Programme – an alliance formed between four framework contractors and STW to eleven major projects. The programme was successful as each contractor worked collaboratively with one-another to maximise available efficiencies in delivery (after all, the ‘e’ in e5 stands for ‘efficiency’!). For ourselves, the overall e5 Major Projects Programme comprised three projects, worth a total of nearly £50 million to MMB. We have expanded the sewage treatment works at Rushmoor, installed a new activated sludge plant at Strongford Sewage Treatment Works and significantly upgraded Worksop Sewage Treatment Works.

We are currently on site constructing the new North Wales Sludge Treatment Centre at Five Fords Wastewater Treatment Works. The site will receive dewatered sludge from satellite sites across North Wales, bringing our client’s sludge assets in North Wales in line with their assets in the south of the country. Working closely with the client we challenged original proposals for two sites in North Wales, developing a proposal for just one site that still achieves the aims of the project. This new solution reduced costs by £15m. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water will be able to return bio-gas produced by the new facility to the grid through an existing plant on site, providing them with an income into the future.

We replaced a 105m long bridge deck at Baitings Impounding Reservoir to ensure the 60-year-old, seven span structure over the reservoir remains safe for highway traffic for future generations. We began by removing the existing bridge deck to enable us to undertake remedial work to repair existing piers and abutments, before replacing the deck with a new pre-cast, pre-stressed beam bridge deck solution. The project gave us opportunity to marry our knowledge of IRE sites with our highways and bridge experience, a sector in which we have worked since the 1980s. Given the nature of the site, we constructed a temporary floating pontoon to house the 90t crane required to lift and remove the existing 82 bridge beams, and lift into place 35 bridge beams and a further 28 parapet beam sections for the new bridge deck. The project picked up the prestigious CECA Yorkshire and Humber ‘Contract of the Year’ award for schemes under £2million and was commended for the way an old bridge deck was refurbished and replaced at the ICE Yorkshire and Humber Awards.

We have constructed and commissioned a new sludge cake reception facility at Whitlingham Water Recycling Centre in East Anglia. The scheme has combined civil, mechanical and electrical elements associated with new buildings, MCC, odour control units, storage silo and connecting pipework. The site team have driven a number of savings, including the reuse of material used for the temporary piling mat within the permanent works as sub-base material for the structures and access roads.

In recent years we have become adept at delivering programmes of minor works collaboratively with our clients, none more so than with Northumbrian Water. We deliver a number of sub-programmes across their operating regions, including the Minor Works Sub-Programme. Here we resolve wastewater compliance issues, working in an agile way with the client and suppliers to react quickly and provide safe, cost-effective solutions. Each scheme under the programme is delivered for under £150,000. Key to its success is engagement with all parties from the start: the ‘One Team’ approach. The whole team plans the works collaboratively, and there is a drive to continuously improve delivery by taking learning and standard designs from one scheme to the next. We estimate that by taking this approach we have achieved efficiencies of over £1.1million over the course of the programme.

The design and build of a new 5.5ML distribution service reservoir and 3.1km pipeline at Cowleigh sees us working in and around the popular spa town of Malvern, and in the Malvern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This has influenced a number of our decisions in the development of the project. The design takes into account a natural fault line within the rock formation, and the route of the pipeline is designed to minimise our impact. Our choice of materials has also been influenced: not only does the use of Molecur plastic pipes reduce costs, it reduces the need for mechanical lifting and can be cut using a handsaw rather than power tools. This lessens our impact on our surroundings, and reduces safety risks. We’ve been proactive with the community too, hosting a public exhibition prior to starting on site and engaging with local residents whilst laying the pipeline through the streets of Malvern, keeping them up-to-date with progress.