Institute of Water - Annual Conference 2017 Review

WE ACHIEVE MORE

REVIEW INSTITUTE OF WATER

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 15 | 16 JUNE 2017 CHETHAM’S SCHOOL OF MUSIC, MANCHESTER

2017ANNUALCONFERENCEREVIEW

TOGETHER WE DO ACHIEVE MORE

TS EN M N O IR V EN G IN D N A EM D T S O M E TH IN

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Thinking back to our national conference, I did a lot of listening, a lot of learning, and a lot of discussing and had a little fun. Combine all of these into three days and you have a really powerful event.

Our event took place in the contemporary setting of Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and attracted over 150 people from across the water industry.

The Meet the Leaders session was a particular favourite of mine. It was great to talk with colleagues from across the water industry who were genuinely keen to learn and ask questions that they normally wouldn’t get the chance to ask.

As for the conference itself, the presentations gave us a broad perspective of the industries – the Supplier Chain, the Water Companies and the Regulators. And one thing we were constantly reminded of was that all of our decisions ultimately affect the end user – the customer.

As a passionate believer in collaboration, the conference has motivated me even more, to put further efforts into understanding what I can do to drive collaboration even further in our organisation and the industry for which I am so proud to work for.

Our Keynote speaker, Andrew McMillan who is a former Head of Customer Service for John Lewis, really set the tone for the conference and told us that “Collaboration with employees is vital, so we can make the changes needed.”

I hope the conference has inspired you into thinking what you can do differently. Talk with your colleagues in your workplace, share your experience of our conference and together we can achieve more.

The variety of our conferences is always a key attraction for our members. Our talks, combined with the valuable contribution our exhibitors make, our fabulously organised social events – the President’s Dinner and the SaintGobain Evening – make a really enjoyable and informative event.

I want to thank all of the speakers, we had a fantastic line-up. I also thank our sponsors, Barhale, Kier, Skanska and Morrison, without your support we would not be able to run the conference to such a high standard.

Then we finished with Dramanon. A really engaging way for us to reflect on the topic of collaboration. It was fantastic to see so many people engaged with this, putting themselves in the shoes of the characters, played by the actors who were brilliant in drawing us in to the scenarios.

It was a wonderful three days and I really enjoyed it. It embedded in me the belief this Institute is a family. The behaviours and feeling you get when talking to people and discussing the topics is really powerful and everyone is really supportive.

I work cross sector and I certainly see the water sector as the leading light in terms of collaboration, innovation and new ways of working.

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Meet the Leaders and AGM

Clancy Docwra

Conference Day One

Barhale and Skanska UK

Conference Day Two

Kier

President’s Awards and Dinner

Morrison Utility Services

Social Evening

Saint-Gobain-PAM UK

WITHOUT THEM, THIS CONFERENCE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE.

I also give my thanks to the organisers, Lynn Cooper and team, for working so hard on the conference, and for being the glue that held this together, and also the Northern Area, for who we lent on so heavily with the conference being held in their patch.

Thank you to all those involved from the Rising Stars programme.

And finally I thank all of the attendees. Without you and your energy, enthusiasm and learning, we wouldn’t have got the buzz in the room that we had.

Thomas Faulkner President, Institute of Water Executive Vice President, Skanska UK

CONTENTS 4

The Conference – Day One

10 The Conference – Day Two 12 President’s Dinner and Awards

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2017ANNUALCONFERENCEREVIEW Thank you to our Rising Stars who contributed to the writing of this Conference Review.

Session 1 continued...

Find out more about our Rising Stars at www.instituteofwater.org.uk/rising-stars

THE CONFERENCE - DAY ONE Keynote Speaker, Andrew McMillan Former Head of Customer Service at John Lewis Recognising that there is much to learn about collaboration and innovation from other industries, the 2017 conference set the tone with Key Note Speaker Andrew McMillan, former Head of Customer Service at John Lewis.

Andrew spent most of his career at the renowned department store giant, where he headed the Intelligence Team, with responsibility for customer service and analysis of demographic trends. Andrew believes service reflects internal culture and he shared some of the examples of internal collaboration that helped shape the success of the John Lewis organisation.

Marcus Rink

Trevor Bishop

Chief Inspector, Drinking Water Inspectorate

Director, Ofwat

Marcus continued on the theme of collaboration, and began by highlighting the need to work together to meet the same aim. He pointed out that delivering high quality water can mean different things to different people.

He described the aims of the DWI: To help protect public health and to maintain public confidence in drinking water, through independent, effective and proportional regulation of drinking water supplies.

“Collaboration takes two to tango,” said Trevor as he continued the theme of collaboration from a regulatory perspective. Trevor recognised the importance of the Institute of Water for regulators as it’s a community of equals and provides the opportunity for collaboration in an open forum where you can share new innovative ideas and best practise.

Marcus then recalled some key examples of the high impact that effective collaboration can achieve. In particular the reduction from 1 in 50 to 1 in 6,000 failures in England and Wales, created by striking the right relationship between the regulator and water companies. He gave a second example from Croatia, where arsenic had contaminated local drinking water. The government spoke to the community and collaborated with them to find the best solution.

He finished by noting that there are some challenges to collaboration, such as having differing objectives, delegated responsibilities and inadequate clarity. However, this could be overcome with the right focus on risk assessment and management. He closed by concentrating on the future of regulation, specifying the need to focus on areas of partial control such as catchment management, the longer term focus on water quality outcomes and the need to adequately quantify risk.

Trevor focused on how collaboration occurs within the industry and how the regulators can get more involved with this. Regulators are encouraging a step change in the collaboration between companies and customers on topics such as water demand management. All companies have aims to reduce their per-capital consumption and this requires excellent collaboration with the customer to achieve this. He also stated that it’s vitally important for regulators to collaborate with other regulators on topics such as water resource strategy to determine “what does good really look like?”

Trevor continued by saying collaboration all comes down to people, personal resilience and trust. If you know you are doing the right thing, you need to persevere and if you get knocked down, get up and try it again.

He finished by exemplifying the new focus on collaboration by saying that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”.

Session 1: The Regulatory Perspective

Ian Barker

Alan Sutherland

Managing Director Water Policy International Ltd

Chief Executive Water Industry Commission for Scotland

Ian kicked off the first session of the day, focusing on the regulator’s viewpoint. Setting the scene, he opened with the statement that “We take regulation for granted!” He followed by a show of hands, asking who felt confident that they knew what the regulator wants, to which only ten percent of the room lifted their hand. He pointed out that not knowing what the regulator wants is like driving without knowing the speed limit.

“The key attributes for collaboration; time, consistency, predictability, openness, recognition that everything doesn’t always go well and trust. We are not always comfortable with all of these but they are necessary for true collaboration.”

Ian then went on to give a brief overview of the history of regulation in the water industry, using the Ladybird book Public Services Water Supply, 1969, to simply describe the need for catchment management, fair billing and the preservation of our Victorian legacy.

He finished by noting that regulation does not guarantee compliance and instead requires willingness to comply. He stressed the importance of incentivising the right behaviours; with a focus on creating a culture of openness, transparency and a collaborative approach to problem-solving.

Alan opened his talk with a thought provoking presentation, challenging the meaning of collaboration and to think about whether we are all truly collaborative across the supply chain and between the regulated and regulator. Are ‘open books’ really fully open all of the time? Are portfolios of projects looked at as a whole, rather than picking off the easy projects first? Alan also questioned how collaboration works to meet the objectives of the group and the individual as these don’t always match due to selfinterest pressures.

Alan then went on to discuss that for the next Scottish price review, a concept called ‘Ethical business regulation’ has been adopted. This is about openness, transparency and genuine working together, identifying what in the regulatory framework and the industry overall stops us from doing the right thing. Scotland’s ‘Customer Forum’ will ensure the trickiest issues are discussed as this is what collaboration requires. Only in this way can we align self-interest, family interest with the broader interest.

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2017ANNUALCONFERENCEREVIEW

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THE CONFERENCE - DAY ONE Session 2: The Water Company Perspective

This year’s Institute of Water Annual Conference took place in Manchester in June, and its theme was: “Together we achieve more.”

Peter Perry

Sara Venning

Douglas Millican

Chief Operating Officer, Welsh Water

Chief Executive, Northern Ireland Water

Chief Executive, Scottish Water

Session Two was entitled ‘The Water Company Perspective’ and began with an insightful account of the Capital Delivery Programme currently underway at Welsh Water. Following a short film clip to set the scene, Peter was able to bring the theme of the Conference to life using the example of the collaborative relationship with the organisation’s Alliance Partners.

Sara began by saying that there were many choices of what to talk about at the conference.

She decided to talk about an initiative which Northern Ireland Water (NIW) ran internally and had people at its core, Water Week. It was in celebration of a decade of delivery in Northern Ireland and throughout the week they held events to engage as many stakeholders as possible. The first event was at Stormont and involved showing Norther Irelands Members of the Legislative Assembly that health, the environment and the economy were key messages for NIW. This event also highlighted their work with Water Aid and how clean water is vital to health. NIW also conducted some research to show the ripple effect. This effect shows that for every £1 invested by Northern Ireland Water, has a knock on effect in the local economy of nearly double that. Other events included a family fun day, and opening 19 sites across Northern Ireland to show local stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, and local government the beauty of many of our sites but also what is involved in the treatment of water. Sara shared that collaboration starts with good relationships with your staff, and NIW have celebrated this by holding a recognition event for staff who have provided exceptional performance across eight categories. This event was made all the more special by the NIW newly formed choir.

Finally Sara stated that customers are key to our business and good collaboration with them is essential as together we will achieve more.

The enthusiasm for collaboration in order to deliver the best outcomes for both the environment and customers was evident in Douglas’ talk. Given that Scottish Water is accountable to the Scottish Parliament, Douglas highlighted the importance of maintaining a collaborative rather than adversarial relationship within a one-to-one regulation framework.

Echoing Peter, he underlined the greater trust and improved creativity that comes with maturity in this space. Exemplifying this, Douglas discussed the work that is currently underway in Glasgow in order to improve the water quality of the River Clyde. A phased, evidence-based approach across investment periods has ensured delivery is achieved in an affordable and sustainable way. Further, it has allowed the essential continual revaluation of a long-term project. Douglas commented on the commitment that has been made to minimise the disruption to communities, particularly those who may not be in receipt of any immediate benefits. He then shared excellent examples of successful, collaborative relationships Scottish Water has been involved in. This included the Metropolitan Glasgow Strategic Drainage Partnership which has played a significant role in providing guiding principles that have navigated flood risk reduction, river water quality improvement and integrated investment planning in the city. Moreover, Scottish Water has been fundamental to the North Glasgow Integrated Water Management System; a concept which has utilised sustainable drainage systems to unlock regeneration and deliver community benefits.

Douglas recognised a particular need to build trust where benefits may be deferred. He added that in order to meet the Scottish Water vision to be ‘Trusted to Serve Scotland’, it is critical to seek and earn that trust each day.

He discussed the importance of maturing away from SILO thinking towards a consistency that would support the delivery of a £2 billion capital investment programme. In order to ensure a sustained collaborative approach, Peter discussed the focus on selecting people with the right behaviours and values. He was proud to announce that there have been no reportable Health and Safety incidents since the Alliance formation. Another key element in its success has been the co-location of teams to allow those making the same decisions to be in the same building. Delegates then heard about the Igloo Pod 360; an immersive, digital engineering tool which allows the visualisation of a concept design. This use of BIM allows potential impacts on customers to be identified and has greatly addressed efficiency challenges. Finally, Peter summed up some of the recent lessons he has learned which included the pivotal role of leadership and the celebration of success within the sector.

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The conference provided insights into what collaboration really means, the power it has and why it is so important to the industry. The event opened with an opportunity to meet some of the water sector leaders in an informal, round-table setting in the ‘Meet the Leaders’ session.

One of the notable highlights of the conference each year is the “Evening with Saint-Gobain”.

This event is held at a mystery location, which is not revealed to the attendees until they are en route to the venue.

This year’s evening event took place at the National Football Museum in the centre of Manchester where, after a champagne reception, guests were entertained by a treasure hunt quiz, football arcade games, a trick footballer, a photo booth and a DJ. Guests were served a buffet dinner, before rounding off the evening with dancing.

All of the money raised from ticket sales has been donated to Wateraid, a charity working to promote and secure poor people’s rights and access to safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation.

Gordon Gemein, Marketing Manager – Pipelines, Valves, Fittings at Saint-Gobain PAM UK, comments: “It’s wonderful that we have almost doubled the sum of money raised over last year’s event for such a worthwhile charity. People know that each year the night will be unique, but will always provide another great opportunity for networking in a very sociable setting. I’m very pleased that guests enjoyed themselves, and we look forward to the 2018 event and surprising people with a new, exciting venue.”

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2017ANNUALCONFERENCEREVIEW

THE CONFERENCE - DAY ONE

The Chameleon Effect

Session 3: The Supply Chain Perspective

Alex Vaughn Managing Director, Costain Outdated infrastructure, growing populations and resilience are all challenges that we face as an industry, while growing customer power and a move towards open market competition is driving us to deliver at lower cost.

Utilisation of efficiency levers such as Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DMFA), product standardisation and digital programme management have begun to meet this challenge, Alex notes, yet without longer, more strategic supply chain partnerships; their benefits cannot be fully realised.

Alex suggests that to develop such relationships; the supply chain must be engaged early and procurement based on behaviours and outcomes, rather than inputs. Business Information Modelling (BIM) should be used to facilitate collaboration between supply chain and water companies, enabling shared ownership of solutions. Alex cites shared financial incentives as crucial in reinforcing those partnerships to alleviate risk and stimulate supply chain innovation; referring to the Eight2O alliance with Thames Water as a successful example of this.

Services Contract

Director, Lagan Water

Group Technical Director, Mott MacDonald

Neil was next and talked on how early contractor involvement was key to delivering projects on budget and on time. This collaboration involves challenging the current way that many water companies operate and involves openness, honesty and trust to make it work. By involving the contractor at an early stage you are more likely to have a better focus on the customer.

Neil demonstrated this through a series of projects showing both the issues which arise when the contractor is not involved at the early stages and the benefits achieved through early contractor engagement. He discussed how small savings add up and good collaboration at an early stage is more likely to lead to innovative solutions and a better quality result. He also touched on the risks in bad collaboration, through the wrong people involved, or the wrong attitudes or poor scope definition. He finished by showing that collaboration produces high performance delivery, trust, and ultimately customer satisfaction.

Digital abundance provides an overwhelming opportunity to share data and facilitate collaboration – yet the construction sector is lagging behind, suggests Mark.

Forms of Contract

In this new asset management focussed, collaborative environment, digital data is king: In Digital Delivery, BIM is the enabling platform to collate design, construction, and operator input from an early phase to collaboratively define aligned solutions.

Lump Sum Contract The Red Book

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Subcontract The Yellow Book Subcontract for Civil Engineering Works The Brown Book Minor Works Contract The Orange Book

In asset management, Smart Infrastructure is paving the way for real-time feedback and monitoring to optimise asset performance, states Mark. “With better data, we have better information, therefore more informed decisions, better outcomes, and happier customers”.

“Technology will come and go, but the importance and value of information will stay forever”. Used rightly, data allows us to deliver more efficiently, manage assets, and crucially, facilitate integration – and together we really do achieve more.

Form of Contract Forms of Contr act

Professional Services Contract

Lump Sum Contract The Red Book

Reimbursable Contract The Green Book Target Cost Contract The Burgundy Book

The Silver Book

Subcontract The Yellow Book Subcontract for Civil Engineering The Brown Works Book Minor Works The Orange Book

Professional Services Contract The Silver Book

Adjudication Rules The Grey Book

First edition 2017

Adjudication Rules The Grey Book Arbitration Rules The Pink Book

Arbitration Rules The Pink Book

Form of Co

ntract

Minor Wo rks The Orange Book

Rules for Expert Determination The White Book Rules for Dispute Review Boards The Beige Book

Rules for Expert Determination The White Book

Second editio n 2003

Rules for Dispute Review Boards The Beige Book

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Reimbursable Contract The Green Book

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To reap the benefits of the digital revolution, the sector must shift its thinking from creating assets to managing assets. To drive supply chain in this new direction; we must redefine value as “Outcome per whole life £ for the ultimate customers”. Rather than construction ‘outputs’, contracts must reward ‘outcomes’ which ultimately benefit the customer and stimulate collaboration between water companies and supply chain around aligned objectives.

Common data environments and digital component catalogues for standard products are the next phase of digital delivery. Mark emphasises that these should be regionally confined: “why not develop standard products and specifications that work for the water industry as a whole?”

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2017ANNUALCONFERENCEREVIEW

THE CONFERENCE - DAY TWO

Session 2: External views of collaboration

Session 1: How do our customers benefit from collaboration?

David Hawkins

Ed Moore

Operations Director & Knowledge Architect, Institute for Collaborative Working

Chief Executive, Resolex

David detailed the Institute of Collaborative Working which for the past 27 years has collected good practice regarding collaboration and developed ideas for UK PLC’s to gain advantages from better interactive working.

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Cathryn Ross

Dale Evans

Jo Causon

Chief Executive, Ofwat

Director, Anglian Water @one alliance

Chief Executive, Institute of Customer Service

“‘Together we achieve more’ is at the heart of everything OFWAT is trying to do.” Cathryn opened her presentation by highlighting that OFWAT’s vision, all about Trust in Water, is not something they can deliver alone, therefore collaboration is key. It is also key for the sector to continue to deliver for customers and society over the long term.

Dale began by bringing us up-to-date with what has been published in the industry regarding collaboration with one of the common themes being a call for greater collaboration in the industry, believing that this wave of reports and call for greater collaboration stems from the poor historic improvement of productivity in construction relative to other sectors.

The last speaker of the session was Jo Causon who started by providing a background to the Institute of Customer service and the growing importance of collaboration as, “We are all facing the same challenges and problems hence why collaboration is so important”.

Innovation is one of the main opportunities for collaboration across the whole sector as it underpins the themes for PR19 – great customer service, resilience and affordability.

Cathryn recognised that innovation isn’t easy and doesn’t necessarily cost more, however additional investment may be required to achieve incremental improvements in customer service and resilience. The move to outcomes and TOTEX supports innovation and collaborative working is key to success. This is because, everyone has good ideas, collaboration is the reality of the sector, system thinking requires collaboration and collaboration reduces risk. Cathryn concluded by stating that competition is not a barrier to collaboration and that there are plenty of competitive sectors where companies collaborate successfully. In fact competition may reveal new opportunities for collaborative working and a sense of common purpose, which the sector has plenty of, is essential for successful collaboration.

Dale described the historical reasons why previous procurement models haven’t delivered, primarily the emphasis on client/contractor interface and hierarchical relationships between clients consultants and partner which disconnects us from parts of the supply chain which are the greatest source of innovation and improvement.

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In contrast, Dale demonstrated the @one alliance delivery team model which portrayed a network of relationships and what those involved have found over the past five years is that innovation doesn’t come from any one point in the network but actually comes from the network itself, the interactions you create and how you combine perspectives, cultures and capabilities.

More elaborate models were discussed that displayed these networks with one of the key learning points being that the sooner all stakeholders are involved in the collaboration process, the better, and the more influence these stakeholders will have on the result of the project.

But why does collaboration matter? Recent UK events demonstrate the importance of collaboration and how organisations need to communicate effectively. Also with customer expectations rising, their tolerance is decreasing and even though we are getting better at dealing with customer complaints, the industry needs to do more investigation into the underlying issues to stop the issue reoccurring and this requires collaboration.

Trust is directly linked to customer satisfaction and with statistics show that 26% of people said they would pay significantly more and 55% slightly more for an organisation they trust and a better customer experience.

Businesses that collaborate with customers see a 30% higher retention, a 55% increase in revenue and a 96% improvement in query time.

It has been found that people who have the best customer experience spent 140% more than people who experience poor customer service.

What are high performing organisations doing better? High performing organisations integrate strategy, process and people. They ensure collaboration so complaints are handled quickly and efficiently, staff maintain their promises to customers and they fully understand the issue. Research suggests that a 1% increase in employee engagement equals 0.41 increase in customer satisfaction score so collaboration benefits all.

David described some of the work the ICW is involved in such as academic forums including UK and international universities to discuss what companies are doing regarding collaboration.

Warwick University produced a report on what CEOs were looking for out of collaboration and what they found was that lowest on their list was lowering operating cost because, David explained, if they start with lowering costs all the partners involved will start conserving their expenditure to the detriment of the project.

James Culley & Geoffrey Fowler

However, if we start to improve the way we work together, improve trust and improve customer confidence, the cost savings will come.

Principal, London Design & Engineering UTC

David’s final message to the delegates was to not focus on ISO 44001 for just certification, “certification is just an output” what is the more important to take away from the standard is the good practice it contains and incorporate it into organisations for better collaboration at every opportunity.

It was Geoffrey Fowler’s colleague, James Cully, who took us on a journey of the work taking place at their University Technical College (UTC). It was amazing to see the breadth of digital research and innovative projects that are ‘industry relevant’. James stressed that these projects can only happen when the university, their students and companies work together and combine their knowledge and expertise.

It was highlighted that the only way for their curriculum to stay relevant and develop a skilled workforce was though collaboration with industry.

James demonstrated their WaterAid inspired project to develop Virtual Reality modelling to support Building Information Management (BIM). The detail of what was produced was staggering and was completely developed by young students who had no previous experience of 3D modelling.

James also introduced us to ‘Pepper’ – a fully mobile and interactive robot which gave us a glimpse into the technological world our young people are learning to develop even further.

Geoffrey Fowler also took the time to ‘Skype-in’ to James’ presentation to highlight how the London Design & Engineering UTC is at the forefront of BIM and Virtual Reality and that they welcome collaboration on real design briefs from the water industry so they can continue to produce a highly skilled workforce that is relevant to the changing industry.

Edward began by making the point that as the ultimate goal of commercial collaboration is achieving the best commercial outcome for the project, sometimes, a purely transactional relationship is the most advantageous.

When deciding where collaboration is appropriate the rule of thumb is “the greater the unknown element of a project, the more important a collaborative relationship becomes.”

In the industry Edward mentioned that we are very good at measuring technical and commercial risks but not as good at the social intelligence aspect. However, as we dig deeper into the technical and commercial risks we find that the root causes are often behavioural.

To counter this risk, leadership and middle management need to improve their behavioural awareness. Edward continued that developing behavioural awareness is about empowering people to understand behaviour so they can act in the most effective to obtain the desired results from that situation. It’s a very difficult skill because most of the time we react before understanding the meanings of the behaviour we’re faced with. In some cases this is because we haven’t taken into account the baggage that is driving that behaviour and our own baggage that affects our perception.

Session 3: Interactive role play session exploring the power of collaboration The final session, delivered by Dramanon, took delegates through a realistic scenario involving a water company and one of their customers. However, this scenario was not clear cut. This situation was explored through the different parts of the service chain: the customer service centre, the project managers, the frontline technicians and ultimately their customer.

From an ‘outside looking in’ perspective, the audience were challenged to see what went wrong, what could be done better and how could true collaboration avoid situations like this in the future.

The immersive performances from the Dramanon team drew passionate responses from the delegates who gave their views on a situation which threw-up fantastic challenges and possible solutions based around early collaboration.

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2017ANNUALCONFERENCEREVIEW

INSTITUTE OF WATER PRESIDENT’S DINNER AND AWARDS 2017 The President’s Dinner - a black-tie event is the Institute of Water’s most prestigious social event of the year.

The President’s Dinner and Awards is a key part of the Institute of Water Annual Conference, celebrating a year of success and innovation across the industry. This year the Dinner was hosted by newly-elected President, Thomas Faulkner, and set within the splendour of Manchester Cathedral.

Sponsored by

difference in the water and wastewater sector.

The nominees have a progressive and committed approach to delivering high quality training and assessment provision.

The award is presented to an organisation that has shown a commitment to providing a consistent experience of training and assessment to candidates in the water sector and attained a high level of respect amongst its peers and relevant stakeholders.

Guests enjoyed a three-course meal, drinks and entertainment amongst water industry peers, friends and colleagues.

A raffle was held to raise money for the Institute of Water’s favourite charity, WaterAid. Raffle prizes were donated by McCrae Training, Morrison Utility Services, Z-Tech Control Systems, Portsmouth Water, Panton McLeod and Foundation Water Research (FWR). At this event alone, generous guests dug deep and raised over £1500 for WaterAid.

INSTITUTE OF WATER PRESIDENT’S CUP Presented by Thomas Faulkner, President of the Institute of Water and Executive Vice President of Skanska The Institute of Water has built its foundations on the professionalism of its members and the passionate commitment of the eight volunteer Area Committees who run the regional activities.

By giving their personal time and energy, they create unique opportunities for Institute of Water members to see behind the scenes in the industry and to have access to the very best people in the sector.

The President’s Cup recognises that commitment and is awarded to the Area with the largest percentage increase in members from one National AGM to the next.

WINNER: Eastern Area

THE NATIONAL INNOVATION AWARD SPONSORED BY MWH

Presented by Trevor Bishop, Director of Ofwat This award shines a spotlight on the many innovative companies in the water sector to demonstrate their excellence, and is just part of the effort the Institute of Water is making to promote the right cultural environment and encourage pride in the sector.

Over the last year, each Area of the Institute of Water has held its own Innovation Award, and the finalists from each have been forwarded to this national award.

WINNER: Wessex Water – Improving catchments through smarter permitting and payment for measures to tackle diffuse pollution

INSTITUTE OF WATER CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AWARD Presented by Lynn Cooper, CEO of the Institute of Water Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is one of the components of a successful career and our Corporate Members have given an undertaking to maintain their competence throughout their career. Each year we ask a sample of those members for evidence of their CPD and the best submissions are considered for our Annual CPD Award which is also open to members of any professional body to enter.

WINNER: Thomaz Andrade, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water RUNNERS UP: Anne Newton, Yorkshire Water and Carmel Bradley, Northern Ireland Water

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This award is given to an organisation that pro-actively and passionately champions a skilled, motivated and highly qualified workforce to make a tangible difference in the water and wastewater sector. The nominees have a business approach that visibly attracts, develops and retains talent whilst being an employer of choice. The award is presented to an organisation that has shown consistent and credible recruitment and employment approaches, including promoting the sector as a career opportunity to a wide, inclusive and diverse workforce.

The companies shortlisted ‘with merit’ were: United Utilities, Scottish Water, Severn Trent Water and Northumbrian Water.

Presented by Natalie Akroyd, Immediate Past Chair of the Institute of Water

WINNER: Severn Trent Water

Allen Bolton was the founder member of the Institute of Water. Allen spent a lifetime in the service of the water industry and served in every office of the Institute at some point in his long career. Allen retained his keen interest in the Institute of Water well into retirement and attended every Conference and AGM until Nottingham in 2007, when he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Allen died in 2011 and this Award has been established in memory of him and in recognition of all that he did for the industry and the Institute.

WINNER: Kathy Auld, Project Manager at Scottish Water, former Institute of Water Chair and current Scottish Area Committee Member

The companies shortlisted ‘with merit’ were: Merit Skills, Develop Training, Watertrain, RPS Water Services Ltd. WINNER: RPS Water Services Ltd

Presented by Denise McGlynn, Client Manager - Water, Waste Management and Recycling for Energy & Utility Skills and Lucy Ritchie, Solutions Manager for Energy & Utility Skills

INSTITUTE OF WATER ALLEN BOLTON AWARD

THE WATER INDUSTRY SKILLS CHAMPION AWARD FOR 2017 Presented by Denise McGlynn, Client Manager - Water, Waste Management and Recycling for Energy & Utility Skills and Lucy Ritchie, Solutions Manager for Energy & Utility Skills This award is given to an inspirational skills champion, who has made a tangible difference in supporting skills and people development in the water and wastewater sector.

Their achievements promote a resilient, inclusive, diverse and sustainable workforce and encourage better long-term outcomes for their organisation, the sector and wider society.

WATERAID 2017 AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMMITMENT Presented by Tim Wainwright, Chief Executive of WaterAid This special award is to celebrate exceptional commitment to transforming lives by improving access to safe water in the world’s poorest communities and is presented to a person who has shown outstanding commitment to WaterAid in terms of influencing and fundraising, both within their company and individually.

WINNER: Chris Maloney, Southern Water

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THE WATER INDUSTRY SKILLS EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR FOR 2017

THE WATER INDUSTRY TRAINING ORGANISATION OF THE YEAR FOR 2017 Presented by Paul Byrne, Chief Operating Officer, CABWI

The award recognises individuals who seek to directly enhance the lives and professional development of others, and do so over and above their day-to-day duties, whilst remaining directly relevant for the industry’s environment. The skills champion will be recognised as an ambassador for the betterment of the sector and have a high level of respect among colleagues and peers.

WINNER: Peter Simpson, Chief Executive at Anglian Water and Immediate Past-President, Institute of Water

This award is given to an organisation that pro-actively and passionately champions the provision of training to make a tangible

instituteofwater.org.uk

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2017ANNUALCONFERENCEREVIEW

72ND INSTITUTE OF WATER AGM

STREAM 2017

Outgoing President Peter Simpson, chaired the 2017 AGM, which also marked Peter’s second year as President, and Institute of Water Chief Executive, Lynn Cooper delivered the Annual Report of the Institute.

Peter Simpson highlighted four key elements in his review of the year: ■■

Great Conferences (including our new “specialist” Science, Environment and Engineering events)

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Catering for all aspects and all levels

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Growing the membership

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Broadening the membership

Peter declared our commitment to deploying some of our reserves to take these forward and invited other Board Members and staff to give updates on our new website and customer management system, the new Journal and our partnership with Energy & Utility Skills.

There were three much-valued Board Members standing down: ■■

Heidi Mottram – President 2014/15

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Ian Limb – Chair 2015/16 and CPD Champion 2009-2015

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Tim Boldero – Chair 1998/99, VP Engineering 1999-2005 and VP Environment 2005-2015

All have made a lasting impression and will be missed but all will remain involved in some capacity. Filling the vacancies are: Douglas Millican, Chief Executive Scottish Water; Sara Venning, Chief Executive Northern Ireland Water; and Steve Youell, Inspector, DWI.

Delegates were challenged to engage with the students, pose challenging questions and vote for their favourite innovative research project.

Earlier in the year Martin Baggs left the Board when he retired from Thames Water, his vacancy being filled by Bob Taylor, Operations Director – Drinking Water Services – South West Water.

The student that achieved the most votes from delegates was Aidan Robson for his EngD project eloquently titled “Who Pooed in the Sea?” which looked at the development of a next generation microbial source tracking analytical tool. Aidan was hosted by Newcastle University and sponsored by Northumbrian Water.

The Institute of Water Board now comprises:

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The Institute of Water continued its partnership with the STREAM Industrial Doctorate Centre and hosted a selection of students who showcased their water industry-focussed projects, via poster presentations, to conference delegates.

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Thomas Faulkner, President

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Douglas Millican, Vice President

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Sam Phillips, Vice President Engineering

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Ian Barker, Vice President Environment

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Robin Price, Vice President Science

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Simon Cyhanko, Chair

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Steve Youell, Vice Chair

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Lynn Cooper, Chief Executive

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Natalie Akroyd, Board Member

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Peter Simpson, Board Member

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Bob Taylor, Board Member

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Sara Venning, Board Member

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Tim Wagstaff, Board Member

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Marie Whaley, Board Member

instituteofwater.org.uk

instituteofwater.org.uk

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