Thames Water

Today, we have announced a proposed transaction to extend our liquidity runway by up to £3bn. It will enable us to continue with the planned investment and maintenance of our infrastructure, progress our equity raise, and complete the Final Determination process. This is an important step as we work towards increasing our long-term financial resilience, and is further positive progress of our turnaround following Ofwat’s improvement of our operational performance rating earlier this month. https://lnkd.in/ehg9enGS

I'm very proud to say I'm New Civil Engineer's 'Apprentice of the year' 2024. Thankyou New Civil Engineer for picking me to receive this award. 3 years ago I attended Reading University to take an Ecology degree, after a year of struggle both personally and with my education I decided I needed to drop out and try something new. I had to move home and leave my girlfriend and friends in Reading not knowing if I'd ever be able to move back, after 6 months of labouring I was approached by K10 Apprenticeships Limited who said they had a role they thought I'd be perfect for. Fast forward to now where I've lived in Reading for over 2 years, had the amazing opportunity to work not only for Mott MacDonald Bentley | MMB and Thames Water but to have been involved across 8 projects where I've learnt so much about an industry I'm incredibly fascinated by. I couldn't have won this award without the support and mentorship I've received along the way which has sculpted me into the engineer and man I am today. For that reason I'd like to dedicate this award to Mark Davis my line manager at Thames Water, Matt Emberlin my senior engineer at Mott MacDonald Bentley | MMB and my girlfriend Lily Mae Allan for supporting me through thick and thin. If there's one thing I would want to say to future engineers old or young, its that its never too late to make the change.

Today we're shining a spotlight on our drought resilience project for London with the issue of our latest newsletter. This vital project will help secure water supply during extended dry spells. A special thanks to Chris Murray MBE, chair of Water Resources South East (WRSE), who highlights the severity of the water shortage challenge across the South East and our united, regional effort to provide a sustainable water supply for the future. Alongside this project, we're continuing to drive down leakage and reduce demand for water. Together, we're forging a path towards a more sustainable and resilient tomorrow. Check out our latest newsletter for further insight on the progress of our tertiary treatment trial, as well as how we're engaging with the local community on our plans to ensure London's water security for future generations https://lnkd.in/eWYtV6Ya

Our waste network crew currently drives around 750,000 miles a month to clear blocked pipes – the equivalent of driving from London to Scotland and back 800 times. In the past, we’d often use a drain rod to push blockages away. But since switching to jetting, 84% of blockages are resolved on the first visit. This method saves time and money, which makes high-pressure jets now our first choice to break blockages up for good. This year, we’ve jetted over 85% of all blocked pipes. Now we’re on track to clear 11,000 repeat blockages – that’s 2,000 times we won’t need to drive through London’s congested streets. We’d like to say a big thank you to our Lanes Group engineers for embracing this new way of working and helping us achieve our joint targets.

Digging deep is always a challenge – especially somewhere as busy as London, where underground maps don’t always show every cable, pipe or gas line.      So we’re proud to have reached one whole year without a single utility strike in South London – an incredible achievement for our Customer Side Leakage team led by Steve Keenlyside.     To carry out over 4,000 successful excavations this year, they’ve followed the SHALLOW process (which stands for site-specific risk assessment, high risk asset escalation, air pick excavation, location checks, layer re-scans, only continue if safe, work together).    Steve says: “Everyone in the team has embraced a zero-compromise health and safety culture, and the strict adherence to SHALLOW has been a game changer. It’s a hugely simple yet effective way of approaching any activity, and credit goes to every single team member for ensuring we never deviate from this.”  Congrats everyone 👏

Our shared apprenticeship scheme is the first of its kind in the UK utility sector – and we’re proud to celebrate the successes of our first two graduates with K10 Apprenticeships Limited!    Monique Dulai has just completed her Level 4 project management apprenticeship. She split her time between our capital delivery team and Morrison Water Services, where she’s now accepted a full-time role.    Monique says: “I’ve always been keen on apprenticeships, but due to Covid, it was difficult to secure one. After realising university wasn’t for me, I moved back home to work while applying for apprenticeships in project management. The shared apprenticeship scheme was the first of its kind I had seen, which intrigued me. I like the fact I’ve been able to learn project management in different environments.”    Ryan Chappelle has also finished his Level 4 project management apprenticeship, which saw him working on major projects at Mogden sewage treatment works before moving to the Wingrove power station project with Mott MacDonald Bentley | MMB.    “I wanted to have a career that I was proud of and that offered progression,” Ryan says. “I like assisting real projects and having a role to play in making sure they run smoothly. I’ve now accepted a new role as an assistant project manager at Thames Water, where I’ll be working on the Guildford sewage treatment works relocation.”    Congratulations to Monique and Ryan for their amazing achievements over the past couple of years! #Apprenticeship #Education

It's London Flood Awareness Week. We cannot eliminate flooding entirely but we can mitigate the risks and be prepared. Installing water butts, creating rain gardens in streets and putting swales and ponds into local parks can all help slow the flow of rainwater into drains and prevent it overwhelming the sewer system.    As well as funding community projects, our drainage and wastewater management plan sets out our strategy to help reduce surface water flooding in London, including managing rainwater falling on 7,000 hectares of land in London with sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). The MayorofLondon, Greater London Authority and partners have also been working to develop a wider surface water strategy for London. Find out more and read the interim report from the London Surface Water Strategic Group: https://lnkd.in/ev52HQNK #LDNFloodAware

Yesterday marked the 25th annual international Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day! We joined forces with Esri UK for an event with representatives from the British Geological Society, Tideway, the Greater London Authority, and Stream to showcase the transformational power of maps and spatial thinking to help solve big challenges. This includes how we can use GIS tools to better predict the effect of climate change on our wastewater assets like sewers. We were also pleased to host colleagues from Anglian Water, Atkins-Realis, Cadent Gas, Stantec, Mott MacDonald, Transport for London, SGN, WSP, Wessex Water alongside our own Team Thames colleagues.

We recently replaced an essential sewer pipe underneath Leigham Vale, a quiet residential road in Streatham Hill, to extend its lifespan for the next 50 years. Before work started, we sent out thousands of letters, hosted a customer drop-in session and liaised with the council to safely close the road for six weeks during the summer holidays. We’re really proud that this project went smoothly and that we’ve had great feedback from local councillors and residents. It should keep waste moving and protect homes from flooding for years to come.

Our congratulations and thanks go to all the incredible winners at our Supplier Summit and Awards this week.    50+ suppliers joined us in Reading and our executive team selected six exceptional winners from over 60 nominations that showcased our suppliers' incredible breadth of skill, compassion, innovation and excellence. We are one Team Thames.