United Utilities has appointed the Strabag Equitix and GLIL Infrastructure Consortium to design, build, maintain and finance the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP).
The consortium, which will be known as Cascade Infrastructure, will form the competitively appointed provider (CAP) for the project. Strabag UK will deliver the full design and build of the project.
Turner & Townsend has been appointed as the independent technical adviser.
The complex construction and maintenance programme is the first in the UK water sector approved by Ofwat to be delivered through a direct procurement for customers (DPC) model to provide the best value for customers.
The project, which has an estimated construction cost of £3bn, will the replace the six tunnel sections (approximately 50km) along the 110km Haweswater Aqueduct route. Construction will commence next year.
HARP will be the largest infrastructure project undertaken by United Utilities since privatisation. The original aqueduct was completed in the 1950s to increase water supplies to Manchester and the Pennines from the Lake District.
United Utilities transformation and strategic programmes director Neil Gillespie said signing the contract with Cascade Infrastructure was a key milestone for HARP.
“United Utilities is the first water company to be delivering large-scale investment through the DPC model, and we’re excited to be moving into the delivery phase of one of the most significant infrastructure projects in the north-west,” he said.
Chris Taylor-Dawson, senior director, major projects and markets at Ofwat, said HARP set a new standard for innovation and collaboration in the sector.
The original 110km pipeline was constructed between 1933 and 1955 by the Manchester Corporation, the local authority at the time. It uses gravity to carry 570 million litres of water a day to Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester.
The need to replace the existing structures was identified in 2013 when the six tunnel sections were isolated and emptied to enable a team of 80 engineers to provide the first detailed information of the aqueduct’s condition since it was built.
Unlike the original aqueduct, which was constructed using hand digging and blasting, the new pipeline will be built using TBMs. This has enabled the length of the lining rings to be increased which reduces the total number of rings needed by 3,000 which in turn eliminates 3,000 lorry deliveries.
Cascade Infrastructure CEO Simon Green, said: “Reaching financial close on HARP marks the beginning of a transformative journey that will deliver vital infrastructure improvements throughout the North West, and importantly, deliver infrastructure fit for the future. This achievement is the result of exceptional collaboration, commitment, and hard work from all our partners involved, combining deep expertise and a shared vision for long-term success.”
