Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://read.utilityweek.co.uk/i/411335
6 WET NEWS NOVEMBER 2014 Early involvement in the asset investment planning cycle and working closely with consultants and supply chain partners was fundamental in delivering the upgrade of the inlet works to Deephams STW It is time to break the silence • Innovation and collaboration are essential in meeting the industry's challenges. So are programmes that encourage company employees to unleash creativity, making an extremely powerful and motivating dynamic for the industry, says Steve Webber. A s we strive to improve the reliability and integrity of the UK's water supply networks and sewers that lie be- neath our streets, it is important we keep disruption to everyday life to the absolute minimum and undertake infrastructure schemes at an affordable cost. To do this we have to innovate. And to innovate, we have to work better together. We have to persuade clients that we can adopt new practices in order to achieve the indus- try's objectives. Companies need to have embedded a highly-trained workforce, and make use of both state-of-the- art equipment and an inte- grated supply chain to provide the strategic direction needed to solve these challenges. Nowhere is this more evi- dent than the work that has been carried out to revitalise London's water supply and sewerage networks. There are more than 30,000km of water supply pipes and 48,000km of sewers in London. Solutions have been found by contrac- tors, Thames Water and the supply chain to improve not only the performance and con- dition of these networks, but also the way in which the pro- gramme of works are delivered. This approach will help to mini- mise or even eliminate impact to the local community, busi- ness and commerce. An intrinsic approach of early involvement in the asset investment planning cycle and working closely with consult- ants and supply chain partners can achieve better outcomes for customers. This was fundamen- tal in delivering the upgrade of the inlet works to Deephams STW in London. Murphy was engaged at the start of concept development with Thames Water and could bring significant carbon emis- sion savings of 10,000 tonnes, and cost savings of £2.2M over the life of the project. This was achieved by ongoing innova- tion, including innovative pil- ing regimes, reducing the vol- ume of concrete by changing the design and using void form- ers, and using sustainable mix designs as standard with CEMIII blends and wider use of precast concrete components than orig- inally considered. Unlocking innovation poten- tial at every turn by harnessing the knowledge and experience of people has enormous poten- tial to help the sector create value and efficiency. This approach gives the industry an interactive platform for the highly-valued views and opin- ions of those who work in the sector, in particular tapping into a young person's wealth of ideas and creative thinking. Resilient Companies who have fostered a culture of innovation have more potential to be resilient to the market's challenges. Encourag- ing employees to think freely and creatively, and challenge each project's requirements is vital to driving ongoing innova- tion. An internal initiative, Mur- phy Bright Ideas, seeks to inspire further innovation within Murphy by harnessing and rewarding its employees' innovative ideas. Bright Ideas start as concepts that the com- pany evaluates and, where appropriate, develops into tan- gible solutions. These are captured under Innovation Edge – a model and a standard template for record- ing the innovation's benefits around the sustainability agenda – economic, environ- mental and social impact, as well as their application and market potential. Murphy recently launched an Innova- tion Microsite to share these with the wider industry. In many cases, the innova- tive ideas generated by individ- uals in the water sector have helped deliver projects more quickly, more efficiently, while the impact on the local econ- omy has been minimised. Continued improvement has always been fundamental to the construction sector. Many sup- pliers have identified that work- ing together and not being afraid to trial new technologies at their own risk and see where they can add value is extremely worthwhile. A recent example of this approach is the Optimise joint venture's use of 'pipe-pull- ing' technology to replace lead service pipes to 25,000-plus homes. In addition, line-stop- ping technology is used to ena- ble the team to isolate sections of water main without the need for an interruption of service to customers. Ambitions To achieve efficient and sustain- able working practices in what is a very diverse and complex sector, we believe that contrac- tors can shape the way that cli- ents approach investment in water infrastructure and the technologies and methodologies that can be used to achieve their ambitions. Con- tractors and consultants should also value the highly specialist skills and equipment provided by the supply chain businesses we use to deliver schemes for our clients. There are many professional organisations that facilitate and encourage individuals and com- panies to come together and discuss ideas that can shape the water sector for the future, including SBWWI, PIG, UKSTT, British Water and institutions like the Institute of water, CIWEM, IMechE and ICE. Through our work with these organisations we are currently lobbying in the sector to take a new approach to pipeline joint- ing technology and use no-dig approaches when renovating pipelines. As a result, over the past five years we have seen a real step-change in the adop- tion of new technologies. We believe that the best approach to delivering infra- structure for the water industry is to actively encourage compa- nies to work together within the sector to achieve asset invest- ment objectives whilst creating great outcomes for customers and communities. Innovation in our thinking alone is a powerful way of shar- ing with our clients and suppli- ers an approach that drives a more efficient asset refurbish- ment and replacement service. n Steve Webber is water & wastewater business development manager for J Murphy & Sons and chair of British Water's Municipal Market Group. www.murphyinnovation.com News+ NEED TO KNOW Organisations including SBWWI, PIG, UKSTT, and British Water encourage companies and individuals to discuss ideas Innovative ideas generated by individuals have helped deliver projects more quickly and efficiently Murphy Bright Ideas seeks to inspire further innovation within the company by rewarding its employees ideas Ongoing innovation helped Thames Water achieve carbon emission savings of 10,000 tonnes and cost savings of £2.2M over the life of the Deephams STW project