by Megan Darby
Impending competition has prompted water companies to be more guarded in their relationships with contractors, Utility Week has learned.
In one example, United Utilities is understood to have moved staff seconded from engineering firm Costain out of its main office. That followed the announcement of a joint venture between Costain and Severn Trent to pursue commercial and industrial contracts.
Graham Keegan, water director at Costain, denied the partnership with Severn Trent had affected the company’s relationship with other clients. He insisted: “There has been no impact at all on other companies.”
United Utilities said its contract framework agreement with Costain had not changed, but admitted retail competition had prompted some internal restructuring. A spokeswoman said: “To avoid conflicts of interests in the new era of increasing commercial competition we are in joint agreement with Costain to ensure that partner employees seconded to United Utilities are embedded with individual project teams on site.”
Clive Mottram, water sector lead at law firm Eversheds, said companies across the country were “more guarded in their dealings” with each other and stakeholders because of competition.
“That is perhaps in tension with what we have seen recently,” he said, which was water firms looking to form closer relationships with a small number of contractors.
· Severn Trent Costain was due to announce the first UK-wide multi-site customer switch this Friday (19 October). See utilityweek.co.uk for the latest.
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 19th October 2012.
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