Thames appoints technical partner for £4.7bn future asset investment

Thames Water has appointed a joint venture between Jacobs and Mott MacDonald to support the delivery of the firm’s £4.7 billion future asset investment.

The joint venture has been appointed under Thame Water’s Strategic Resource Option (SRO) framework.

The pair of engineering giants are in line to receive up to £300 million for their services.

The framework is designed to support the delivery of Thames’ Strategic Resource Options (SRO) Programmes, which includes the Southeast Strategic Reservoir Option and London Water Recycling projects.

It also includes several transfer schemes between Thames and other water companies including Severn, Affinity and Southern.

Thames describes the SRO as “critical to delivering water security for the south of England”.

Under the eight-year professional services framework agreement, Jacobs and Mott MacDonald will deliver a range of technical, engineering, environmental, regulatory and planning consent services to take the schemes through the development phase and into delivery.

Jacobs senior vice president Kate Kenny said: “As the need for long-term, integrated water management solutions intensifies, we’ll work collaboratively with Thames Water to solve some of the U.K.’s greatest water resources challenges.”

Jacobs and Mott MacDonald have delivered more than 100 development consent orders (DCOs) in the UK water sector, including Thames Tideway Tunnel.

Thames launched the tender for framework just days after former chief executive Sarah Bentley resigned from her post, sparking concerns that the firm was in financial trouble.

At the time senior consultancy managers told Utility Week that they would still bid for upcoming work with Thames. However, they said that they would be “cautious” about entering into contractual agreements without assurances about Thames’ future.

Concerns about Thames’ financial stability have continued to grow in the months since, with the government reportedly working up a “bailout plan” should the firm collapse.

In December, Thames Water’s senior team said that the business had insufficient funds to pay £1.35 billion of debts due to mature between this year and 2028.

Thames’ two majority shareholders also both devalued their holding in Thames’ parent company Kemble Water.