Water Can Learn From UK's Big Infrastructure Projects

From products to partnerships, as the water sector in England and Wales embarks on an unprecedented scaling of investment, Jason Hemingway, SIG infrastructure sales director, asks what can be learned from big infrastructure projects in other sectors.

Infrastructure investment is hardly a new phenomenon in the water sector, but the scale and urgency of current plans – a near doubling of investment in AMP8 – the five-year asset management plan to 2030 – is a significant ramping up, moving beyond the incremental improvements of recent decades. This represents a significant capacity and capability challenge for all stakeholders – not only on materials and equipment, but also on skills and expertise.

It is encouraging to hear business leaders in the water companies and major contractors recognise that new approaches to project delivery, logistics, technologies and materials are required. It is also refreshing to witness an openness to new players entering the market, including those bringing experiences from big infrastructure in other sectors.

SIG Construction Accessories (SIG CA) has been supplying products to UK infrastructure projects for over 10 years and understands the complexities of supplying these markets. As the UK shifts towards a more integrated, long-term approach to major infrastructure strategy, this is the ideal time for water to lean into learnings from recent big projects in sectors like rail and energy.

Maximising value
For SIG CA, as a distributor, the changing landscape of large-scale infrastructure has represented a shift beyond traditional product supply, to a service that helps clients de-risk projects, improve technical decision-making, and maximise value - from concept through to completion. To underpin the company's commitment to this value engineering approach, SIG Construction Accessories is formalising its infrastructure focus to better support the successful delivery of complex infrastructure projects, and has recently announced the specialist team who will operate as SIG Infrastructure.

Collaborative early engagement is on the wishlist of most companies supplying major infrastructure in water and all other sectors. For the end-client and contractors, it derisks projects by integrating an array of expertise and depth of scoping from the start.

It allows for proactive identification and resolution of design flaws, mitigates cost issues, and streamlines logistical challenges. Early engagement also fosters better collaboration, ensures regulatory compliance and builds stakeholder trust, ultimately leading to smoother execution, better value and fewer surprises.

Where a project depends on major civils, proactive dialogue with the distributors who will be supplying essential products for vital groundworks can lock in best-in-class products and approaches very early-on – saving time and money from day one.

Mitigating cost
In a recent project to build access roads for a 500km water pipeline project in England, the geogrid-based design for one site initially failed to meet the load capacity, which meant additional layers of premium aggregate were required. To mitigate this significant additional cost, SIG’s geotechnical lead proposed Neoloy Tough-Cell, a unique confinement system for soil stabilisation and reinforcement. This intervention succeeded in reducing not only repairs, materials, transport journeys and emissions, but delivered significant cost reduction.

Given the scale of savings that are possible, early engagement with all suppliers – with deep collaborative conversations, even at the point of tender – needs to be adopted as standard practice. As this water pipeline project demonstrates, the benefits of having the expertise of a specialist distributor on board before the first spade goes in the ground would reap even greater rewards.

There are learnings from experiences on projects like Hinkley Point C Power Station in Somerset, and the HS2 London-Birmingham railway line, that the water sector could benefit from. Dedicated specialists from SIG Infrastructure are set up to be a trusted partner, with the ability to service projects over their lifespan.

These dedicated personnel ensure an enduring relationship with project teams, with well-established personal contacts between individuals. This approach would work well in water where there are large-scale projects with high volume product requirements and multiple partners. It would also work on a regional basis, where several capital projects are underway in a given area.

Technical expertise
Working with suppliers that can source and deliver at scale means project teams have technical experts to hand that can give agnostic advice on a wide range of products that meet specific needs, and are not tied to particular brands and manufacturers. For SIG Infrastructure, in-house expertise includes civil and geotechnical engineering, as well as waterproofing and fixings specialists. The same advantage accrues around compliance and product training - with assurances and accreditations, specifications and datasheets, all readily available at the get-go.

The £104B spend in AMP8 has every potential to ensure supply security and meet the environmental goals demanded by the public on water. Given the scale and pace of work required – with major treatment works upgrades, reservoir building, transfer schemes and accelerating pipe replacement – the water sector has no choice but to try new approaches and to build relationships with new partners.

Success will depend on embracing innovative ways of working and learning from the experiences of major infrastructure programmes in rail and energy. Early engagement, adaptable suppliers and access to specialist expertise can significantly reduce risk, unlock value and improve outcomes. With billions of pounds of investment at stake and an urgent need to deliver resilient, sustainable assets, the water sector has a unique opportunity to learn the lessons, build deeper partnerships, and ensure project resilience long before construction begins.