AECOM has today announced that it has been appointed by Murphy as its design partner to deliver Thames Water’s major upgrade of the Oxford Sewage Treatment Works in the UK.

Wessex Water has revised the capital cost (excluding VAT) of the Poole Water Recycling and Transfer Project upwards from £170 million to c £287 million to reflect the current capital value estimate. The water company is now planning another round of market engagement beginning with a webinar on 14th July 2026 to provide project updates and to update the market on the current project status.

A research study commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has found that the Government Support Package (GSP) provided for the Thames Tideway Tunnel could serve as the financial model for other large scale infrastructure projects with a large public benefit - for example nuclear power stations and water reservoirs.

In an Expert Focus article for WaterBriefing, as the water sector in England and Wales enters a pivotal phase, Louise Ellis, Water Strategy, Regulation & Asset Management at Arup takes a look at the need for a whole system transformation - and how regional systems planning could be the missing link between national reform and catchment-based delivery.