Black & Veatch has been awarded three new frameworks for Thames Water, the UK’s largest water utility. The new roles span the lifecycle of Thames’ water and wastewater treatment and below ground infrastructure systems: from asset and system modelling studies and developing project briefs through to design and infrastructure engineering service delivery. At a minimum the frameworks will run for the duration of AMP7, the current regulatory review period, 2020 to 2025 and potentially extend through AMP8, 2025 to 2030.

Black & Veatch has secured roles as a delivery partner on both the asset management framework and the project management and assurance framework and as the engineering strategic partner to Galliford Try on Thames’ lot 1 and 2 area-wide design and build frameworks which cover engineering services to realise both new-build and capital enhancement projects on the ground. 

“Black & Veatch has supported Thames since its inception in 1989 and we are delighted to be playing a significant part in the next chapter of the utility’s evolution,” said Scott Aitken, executive managing director of Black & Veatch Europe. “A major part of AMP7 will be about optimising the performance and enhancing the resilience of Thames Water’s assets to meet changing customer and environmental demands. Our Black & Veatch professionals have already helped design, integrate and commission many of these assets and systems. That asset knowledge - alongside our digital water capabilities, tools and processes - allows our professionals to collaborate with Thames Water to meet the utility’s business, sustainability and customer service goals,” Aitken said.

The asset management framework role will engage Black & Veatch’s engineers, scientists and technical professionals early in the infrastructure lifecycle, helping to define technical solutions and give early structure to the projects that will deliver those solutions. Project management and assurance framework support falls within the next phase of the capital programme and is about drawing out value through developing, refining and testing those solutions and turning them into ‘shovel-ready’ projects for handover to design-and-build teams. Black & Veatch will utilise its industry leading ECO-X cloud-based digital and data ecosystem on both frameworks to maximise value and efficiency opportunities for Thames Water.