Arup and Costain have jointly won a health and safety assurance framework contract as part of Yorkshire Water’s capital investment programme for AMP7.
With a duration of four years, the contract is worth £2 million to the companies, who have an existing partnership in the water sector, as well as long-standing relationship with Yorkshire Water.
AMP7, running from 2020 – 2025, is the seventh asset management period planned by the water industry, for which all major companies have submitted their business plans to Ofwat for assessment as part of the regulator’s 2019 price review.
Paul Robins, continuous improvement manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “Following a 12-month selection process, we are delighted to be working with Costain and Arup on our new assurance framework.
“The framework supports our enhanced assurance approach which is aimed at providing specialist, targeted assurance to meet the challenging needs of AMP7.”
Mark Fletcher, Arup global water business leader, added: “UK water companies are facing significant challenges in AMP7 around affordability, operational resilience and increasing expectations from regulators, stakeholders and customers.
“The Costain-Arup partnership is committed to supporting Yorkshire Water and its supply chain in providing exceptional service for its customers by assuring the delivery of safe, reliable and resilient assets.”
The framework is concerned with delivering resilient assets and driving high quality service for customers, by supporting health and safety needs as well as promoting collaboration and innovation across the supply chain.
Under the contract, Arup and Costain will work together to provide expertise in construction site safety, design phase processes, and compliance with construction, design, and management regulations. This is aimed towards tackling affordability challenges and facilitating the efficient delivery of Yorkshire Water’s AMP7 plan.
In awarding contracts for the next period, Yorkshire Water joins United Utilities and Severn Trent who recently made announcements of their own.