Thames Water has secured c£9.5 million in funding from Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund for two pioneering innovation projects – the projects will test longer planned water outages for pipe repairs, to enhance mains replacement methods, and another project will support large-scale implementation of sustainable drainage systems alongside planned streetworks to help reduce flood risk.
Photo: example of a sustainable drainage system
The two initiatives are winners of the sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge, funded by the Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund, which has awarded £58 million to 19 projects tackling the water sector’s biggest challenges.
With a total value of £1.9 million, the first project will test whether extending planned water supply interruptions, for some pre-planned pipe maintenance works, from three hours to up to 12 hours could unlock innovative in-pipe repair and renewal techniques. The project’s partners include Yorkshire Water Services, United Utilities, South West Water, Sutton and East Surrey Water and Stantec UK.
The approaches have the potential to reduce road disruption, noise, carbon emissions and overall costs, while helping the sector renew ageing infrastructure more efficiently. The £1.9 million project will also gather customer feedback to better understand how people assess longer planned interruptions against the benefits of faster, less disruptive works.
Martin Padley, Water Director at Thames Water said:
“This serves as an exceptional opportunity to work with our customers to optimise the biggest network upgrade in 150 years. Trialling this new regulatory approach will enable a better customer experience when delivering these essential works in a way that drives down disruption to communities and the environment.”
The second project delivered in collaboration with the Greater London Authority (GLA) aims to create a new market-based approach to delivering sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) alongside planned streetworks. With a total value of £7.6 million the SuDS through Streetworks Market (SMM) represents a flagship innovation project that stands to create the UK’s first environmental services market for SuDS.
In an average year, about 186,000 street works are undertaken in London to maintain utility networks and highways.
By incentivising utility companies and highways authorities to integrate SuDS, such as raingardens), when reinstating their street works, the project aims to reduce surface water flood risk, cut disruption and speed up the delivery of greener infrastructure.
The model is designed to help unlock SuDS delivery at scale, improve climate resilience and create a framework that could be used more widely across the UK.
Alex Nickson, Head of Environmental Compliance and Water Quality at Thames Water said:
“Surface water flooding from heavy rainfall is a real and present risk in London. Through this funding, Thames Water and the Greater London Authority will operationalise the first environmental services market for sustainable drainage systems. The SSM will transform how SuDS are planned, scaling delivery and enabling wider application through a market-based solution.”
Jules Pipe CBE, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and the Fire Service at the Greater London Authority, said:
"Surface water flooding is a real and growing threat for Londoners, with over 320,000 properties at high risk. I welcome the successful award to the GLA of funding to support the launch of the SSM. By leveraging planned streetworks and promoting partnership across the infrastructure sector, the SSM will help to improve the way in which infrastructure is both planned and delivered, helping to build a more resilient and greener London for all."
Click here to find out more about all 19 winners of the sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge
The SI12 Challenge, (, will explore whether longer planned supply interruptions can enable lower-impact pipe maintenance and renewal methods. The project will be delivered in partnership with Yorkshire Water Services Ltd, United Utilities PLC, South West Water Ltd, Sutton and East Surrey Water PLC and Stantec UK Ltd.
o The SuDS through Streetworks Market in partnership with the Greater London Authority (Total project value: £7,632,283) will test a new approach to scaling sustainable drainage delivery alongside planned streetworks.
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