United Utilities has awarded a major AMP8 framework contract for specialist design development partners to support the company’s delivery of both infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects in AMP8 and AMP9 - the contract had an estimated total value of £120 million when it went out to tender in April 2024.
United Utilities has awarded a major AMP8 framework contract for specialist design development partners to support the company’s delivery of both infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects in AMP8 and AMP9 - the contract had an estimated total value of £200 million when it went out to tender in April 2024.
The water company was seeking to appoint Specialist Design Development Partners (DDP) in order to provide essential design development support to increase capacity, develop outline (and if required detailed design packages) in conjunction and then secure all required third party approvals and issue for construction.
The Specialist DDP’s expertise in design was identified as “pivotal in bridging the gap between the Strategic Solution Partner’s conceptual deliverables into tangible, executable deliverables.”
The contract was tendered in the following Lots:
Lot 1 - Design Packages (£80,000,000)
Scope of Lot 1 covers the provision of a design package, either as a discrete design package (e.g. to provide a structural design of a reinforced concrete tank with the required outputs being the calculations, a rebar schedule and supporting drawings) or it could be to develop a high level solution into an outline and / or detailed design where the Specialist DDP is responsible for all elements of that design, including acting as Principal Designer under CDM.
The tender document requirements specified that the specialist DDP should “excel in conducting refined cost-benefit analyses to maximize financial efficiency while maintaining an interactive collaboration with UU, the Strategic Solutions Partner’s and build only contractor teams for actionable insights.”
In addition, it stipulated that the process should also involve a thorough assessment of lifecycle costs, proactive stakeholder involvement to ensure alignment with wider project objectives, and third party approval requirements, and a commitment to pioneering sustainable and innovative solutions.
Lot 2 - Rainwater Management and Nature Based Solution Design (£40,000,000)
Under Lot 2 the appointed Rainwater Design Development Partners will be responsible for one or more of four areas -
- Cumbria
- Lancashire
- Greater Manchester
- Merseyside and Cheshire
According to the tender documenrt, United Utilties’ current programme indicates that there will be c8000 ,interventions required across the whole network area. However it also said that the programme would remain fluid as part of PR24 and may realise as many as 15,000 interventions.
The document provides an informative overview of the company’s Rainwater Management Strategy which interacts with United Utilities’ upper catchments and estates, its drainage areas and networks and ultimately its wastewater treatment works.
The strategy is underpinned by United Utilities’ Sustainable Drainage philosophy to recycle and re-use rainwater, manage it at source (close to where it falls), convey it on the surface and attenuate it on the surface to ‘slow the flow’.
The water company says this approach supports:
- both sustainable drainage and water efficiency;
- increasing headroom across the wastewater business and reducing demand for potable supply through recycling and cultural change whilst monetising and delivering multi capital benefits
- delivering blue green infrastructure to communities across the North West.
“By delivering rainwater management, we reduce our reliance upon building conventional and carbon intensive storage tanks and increase our ability to deliver an adaptive plan. This ensures best value outcomes for customers”, the utility says, adding:
“Some of the packages of work within this programme are not innovative in isolation but are innovative in the scale at which they are being proposed to be delivered. This means the strategy unlocks easy and scalable solutions for the company across its household and nonhousehold base and associated impermeable areas in collaboration with retailers.”
In addition, the Rainwater Management Strategy may need to be adaptive and delivered across multiple asset management planning periods or integrated as a methodology within a place-based planning approach. The strategy has been designed in parallel and aligned to the Drainage andWastewater Management Plan (DWMP).
Initial contract term is 72 months with a further potential option of 5 years.
United Utilities was looking to appoint up to nine participants to the framework agreement. To date the water company has awarded three contracts under each of the Lots – no information has yet been made available on the successful suppliers.
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