C O M P A N Y O V E R V I E W
Lanes Group’s innovation wins contracts and plaudits With a range of services and award-winning health and safety initiatives, the UK wastewater solutions provider is continuing its development to a truly national industry benchmark Written by: Joel Levy Produced by: James Pepper
3
LANES GROUP
Key Personnel
Conrad Ashby, Framework Director, Lanes Utilities
“We have a substantial fleet of specialist field units, probably about £30m of operational capital assets around the country” – Conrad Ashby
4
July 2014
L
eading wastewater solutions provider Lanes Group is winning major work with big-name clients based on its strong reputation for excellence and innovation in all its first-class services. The company has won contracts in the energy, transport and utilities sectors with the likes of Thames Water, Anglian Water, Wessex Water, Scottish Water, London Underground and more. Lanes is a classic example of a business that started small but has achieved excellent growth and success through its expertise and passion for doing things to the highest standard. Formed in Leeds in 1992 as specialist drains clearer and repairer Lanes for Drains, it had a workforce of just five. Today, it is the UK’s largest independent drainage specialist with three branded companies and several operating divisions, employing some 1,400 staff, and has built a nationwide network of 23 depots stretching from Aberdeen down to Plymouth while earning numerous accolades and accreditations. Lanes Utilities Framework Director Conrad Ashby may have only been at the company for 18 months, but he has already seen what made Lanes the leading force it is today: “My predecessors and colleagues have put an enormous amount of hard work in and laid some great foundations from which to build. The company has grown organically from humble beginnings and also with some strategic acquisitions. We’re up to about £120m turnover
ENERGY
The company owns a substantial fleet of trucks
in 2013/14 and are a growing business. “We have a substantial fleet of specialist field units, probably about £30m of operational capital assets around the country, and we’ve got some high-profile customers to whom we deliver a really good and reliable service, which has been fundamental to our success and growth.” Thames Water contract One such high-profile customer is Thames Water, utilities provider for the capital. Lanes’ contract, worth some £40 million per annum, involves carrying out planned and emergency work in world-famous locations in London and across a number of counties from the borders of
The UK’s largest independent drainage specialist
w w w. l a n e s f o r d r a i n s . c o . u k
5
Bespoke Insurance and Risk Management Solutions for the Construction & Utilities Industry Trueman House, Capitol Park, Leeds, LS27 0TS Telephone: 0113 393 6300
www.hibl.co.uk
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
EXPERTS IN FLOORING TECHNOLOGY - WORLDWIDE Marine Floorings
MARINE & OFFSHORE FLOORINGS Your leading supplier of · Primary deck coverings · Insulating ship floors · A-Class deck insulation · Noise reduction floors · Viscoelastic damping layer · Epoxy resin floors
G. Theodor Freese GmbH & Co. KG Carl-Benz-Str. 29 28237 Bremen Germany
Span Global Engg. (FZC) c/o G. Theodor Freese GmbH & Co. KG Sharjah Airport Free Zone / P. O. Box – 63914 , Sharjah. United Arab Emirates
Tel: +49 (0)421 / 396 08-0 Fax +49 (0)421 / 396 08-399
Tel. +971 (0)50 462 31 50 Fax +971 (0)65 578 92 9
e-mail: contact@gtf-freese.de
e-mail: harish@spanglobal.com
LANES GROUP PLC
ENERGY
Gloucester in the west, north to Warwickshire and east to Luton and Brentwood and as far south as Surrey. The contract covers approximately 75 percent of Thames’ customers and asset base, and requires the skills and expertise of both field and office staff working 24 hours around the clock. Ashby said: “We have 561 people and 319 vehicles delivering the services 24/7 on this contract, ranging from emergency blockage, pollution remediation and containment, tankering, CCTV and asset inspection, through to more complex asset replacement and lining refurbishment of the network. Whatever the discipline delivering, customer satisfaction sits at the heart of everything we do. Rail and nuclear Rail is another significant part of Lanes’ portfolio. In March 2014, London Underground (LU) appointed the company’s rail division as one of 24 specialist contractors for a £330m programme to refurbish 70 stations, using a new STAKE model that cuts out Tier 1 contractors. Works include drainage investigation, CCTV surveying, plumbing along with the fitting of new sanitary ware in toilets and shower areas at underground stations. Other services provided for LU include bridge and structure repairs, and a maintenance contract for drainage, premises and buildings, water seepage, locks, vegetation control and fencing. More than 300 Lanes employees
The company has 561 people and 319 vehicles delivering the services 24/7
w w w. l a n e s f o r d r a i n s . c o . u k
7
LANES GROUP PLC
ENERGY
go out each night on the underground rail system to conduct these works. As a company also heavily involved in the nuclear sector for 12 years, Lanes has adopted a cross-fertilisation policy, taking the ideas and best practice from its challenging work across the UK’s nuclear sites and other Group activities and applying them to the flagship Thames contract and other parts of the business in other environments. Health and safety is an area of particular emphasis across all the whole Lanes Group.
“We do 22,000 safety inspections a year; our Accident Frequency Rate is currently zero and that’s the result of a lot of hard work from the team” – Conrad Ashby
Awards Working across several sectors, Lanes has developed an exceptional safety culture. Earlier this year, it received two national health and safety awards for its Essential Standards initiative, including the Construction News Health and Safety Excellence Award. Lanes also achieved the RoSPA Gold Medal Award for occupational health and safety for the fifth year running from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, and was also shortlisted in four out of six categories in the Thames Water Health and Safety Excellence Awards 2014. It won two of them: Innovation and Young Person of the Year. Ashby said: “Essential Standards is all about taking what were relatively dry operational manuals, with several hundred pages of written work, and putting them in a pictorial form that is w w w. l a n e s f o r d r a i n s . c o . u k
9
HIGH & ULTRA HIGH PRESSURE WATER JETTING EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES
SAFETY, INDUSTRIAL & MAINTENANCE Superjet, part of the Jetchem Group, specialise in high and ultra high pressure water jetting machines and ancillary equipment for both sale and hire across the UK. We take great pleasure in serving the Lanes Group.
T: 01708 524524
E: simltd@btconnect.com
SIM
• Personal Protection Equipment • Work-wear • Embroidered and printed logos • Tools • Fasteners • Industrial consumables www.safetyindustrial.co.uk
30HP VAN MOUNTED JETTING PACK compact lightweight high performance hydraulic reel antifreeze system various water tank sizes With a range of performance options to best suit your needs
08435 06 55 22 Head Office & Manufacturing : Jetchem Systems Limited | Cuba Industrial Estate Ramsbottom | Bury | Lancashire | BL0 0NE W : www.jetchem.com T : +44 [0] 1706 828 888 E : info@jetchem.com NATIONWIDE DEPOTS : NORTH WEST | NORTH EAST | SOUTH YORKSHIRE | MIDLANDS | SOUTH WEST | SOUTH EAST
Knowledge@detecon: www.acuityuc.com 0800 130 3020
Support from strategy through to implementation
Acuity Unified Communications is a leading provider of next generation cloud based telephony services
Supplier of call centre communications solutions to Lanes Group PLC on behalf of Thames Water
We make ICT strategies work
www.detecon.com info@detecon.com
Future Vision Delivered Today
LANES GROUP PLC
ENERGY
easily accessible and digestible to our workforce. “It’s a cornerstone of our health and safety culture, and provides us with a firm foundation for inductions, toolbox talks, audits and ongoing training and development of all our people. We undertake 22,000 safety inspections a year. Our current rolling average AFR (Accident Frequency Rate) is zero and that’s the result of a lot of hard work and focus from the whole team.” Innovator Despite the recognition, Lanes is committed to further investing in its people and advancing techniques. Some £250,000 a year is spent on training on the Thames Water contract alone, with managers put through a 16-week programme of learning to give them the support and knowledge needed for leading their teams and overseeing challenging projects. On the back of its success with the Thames Water contract, the client has awarded Lanes additional work, necessitating the recruitment of new staff. Each starter experiences a nineday training programme before going out into the field. Ashby said: “Training and ensuring competency of our teams is fundamental to delivery and ultimately our success.” As an innovator, Lanes applies marketleading techniques to its projects, exploiting both IT and practical industry innovations. For example, its trenchless bespoke lining solution rehabilitates drain and sewer assets using
Lanes is committed to investing in its people
“The water industry provides some risk but I see it as a great opportunity to add to our business” – Conrad Ashby
w w w. l a n e s f o r d r a i n s . c o . u k
11
LANES GROUP PLC
“Rather than excavating roads you can rehabilitate assets with trenchless repairs to remediate asset problems and failures” – Conrad Ashby
a cured bonded liner to provide a structural support and enabling a free-flowing asset in order to extend the asset life. It is a costeffective and environmentally-friendly method. Ashby said: “Rather than excavating roads you can rehabilitate assets with trenchless repairs to remediate asset problems and failures. This is a cost-effective solution for our clients and is particularly effective in urban areas, as you can reduce your traffic disruption, noise and, importantly for all, reduce the time to complete a job.
ENERGY
“We’re a leader in this area. We do many millions of pounds-worth of lining work across the UK, much of it delivered by our reline division. We do some very interesting and challenging asset rehabilitation lining work for the nuclear industry, and other key sectors and companies, and are UK leaders in UV (ultraviolet) lining techniques.” Lanes is a technological innovator, investing in new equipment, trucks, combination units and robotic CCTV for remote monitoring. It is an industry-leading investor in vehicles and technology, including the latest jet vac recyclers
Lanes is an innovator, investing in a new fleet of vans
w w w. l a n e s f o r d r a i n s . c o . u k
13
LANES GROUP PLC
“When dealing with any customer experience, getting data back from the field is key to making the right investment decisions. And we’re able to supply a lot of ‘big data’ information quickly and accurately to Thames Water through this app” – Conrad Ashby
that make its services more sustainable through significant reductions in energy and water use, and pollution creation. It is also developing work management and IT systems to support its engineers in the field, and return useful and accurate information to Lanes’ clients. This IT investment will remove paperwork burdens and process inefficiencies, and generate the right data and analysis capabilities to make the best business decisions for Lanes and the client, and in turn deliver the best service for end-use customers. For example, the company’s Field Viewer app takes about 2.2 million images a year on the Thames Water contract alone. Ashby said: “The client finds the system we’ve developed very useful for diagnosing customer and asset problems. When dealing with any customer experience, getting data back from the field is key to making the right investment decisions. And we’re able to supply a lot of ‘big data’ information quickly and accurately to Thames Water through this app.” New horizons It is a positive time for Lanes Group as it continues its expansion. Ashby identified excellent opportunities in the coming years for the company to excel in new areas and lead the way in a competitive industry. He concluded: “I want our service to be an industry benchmark both from a customer and
14
July 2014
ENERGY
Company Information INDUSTRY
Wastewater solutions HEADQUARTERS
Leeds, UK FOUNDED
1992
safety perspective. We’re coming up to AMP6 (a five-year Asset Management Programme for UK water companies) in 2015, and I’m hoping there’s opportunities there for us to grasp. “It’s an exciting time for us with new horizons. I believe what we’re doing with Thames Water is pushing the boundaries in terms of delivering on the wastewater network. I’m hoping we can have similar success with other utilities, delivering sizeable contracts like this. “We’ve got great coverage nationwide. I think the split of wholesale and retail in the water utility market will open up some very interesting avenues that didn’t exist previously. We will be in a very challenging environment, competing with people who we’ve not necessarily, competed with before. The upcoming changes in the water industry provide some risk, but I see it as a great opportunity for Lanes Group to add to its business.”
KEY PEOPLE
Conrad Ashby, Framework Director EMPLOYEES
1,400 REVENUE
£120m PRODUCTS/ SERVICES
Trenchless sewerreplacement, pollution control, jet vacuumation, structural coating, Field Viewer app
w w w. l a n e s f o r d r a i n s . c o . u k
15
LANES GROUP Lanes Group Plc, Lanes for Drains, No. 17 Parkside Lane, Parkside Industrial Estate, Leeds, LS11 5TD Tel. 0113 385 8400 Fax. 0113 385 8401 www.lanesfordrains.co.uk