Severn Trent Water is starting work on two major schemes costing around £6.5 million to protect properties against sewer flood in the face of changing weather patterns and increasingly heavy rainfall.

Novo Nordisk has become the first pharmaceutical company in the world to publish an environmental profit and loss account so that it can further integrate sustainability into its core business – the analysis shows that the environmental impacts of Novo Nordisk’s business cost €223m in 2011.

Construction and regeneration company Morgan Sindall Group plc has seen its profits fall by 34% for the year ended 31 December 2013 – but its forward order book has risen 8% to £2.4 billion.

Water UK, the body which represents the UK and water and wastewater sector at national and European level, have flagged up the role played by the utilities in the emergency response to the current floods.

An important pilot installation to produce bioplastics from wastewater has been officially inaugurated by the Friesland Water Authority (Wetterskip Fryslân) in Leeuwarden.

The Iraqi Ministry for Municipalities and Public Works has chosen Veolia to build and operate for five years a desalination plant in Basra, Iraq. For Veolia, this contract represents cumulated sales of $115 million.

Rather than contracting 0.3%, as initially thought, the construction industry grew 0.2% in the final quarter of last year, according the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics. Output jumped 2.0% in December.

As part of the government’s ongoing work to deal with the floods, the Prime Minister has announced details of a £10 million scheme to provide further support for businesses in areas affected by flooding.