United Utilities identifies preferred bidder for Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme

United Utilities has today announced its preferred bidder to design, build, finance and maintain the replacement of six tunnel sections of the Haweswater Aqueduct, part of its Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme, or HARP.

Following a competitive tender process, the consortium identified as the preferred bidder to form the Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP) is STRABAG Equitix Consortium.

The original aqueduct, completed in the 1950s, supplies water from the Lake District to communities in Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester. Six tunnel sections along the 110km aqueduct route will be replaced, ensuring a resilient supply of quality drinking water for future generations.

At an estimated construction cost of around £2.5-2.9bn, HARP will be one of the largest water infrastructure projects undertaken in the North West.

This complex project is being delivered through a Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) model to ensure it provides the best value for customers. It is the first time such a model has been used in the UK water sector. The procurement process is now in its final stage of financial close, with contract award planned for the first half of 2025, subject to consent by water regulator Ofwat.

Neil Gillespie, Transformation and Strategic Programmes Director at United Utilities, said: “This is a significant milestone in our journey to replace the Haweswater Aqueduct tunnels so that we can continue to provide customers in the North West with a reliable supply of quality drinking water into the future. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work from a dedicated team, and we are really pleased to have now established our preferred bidder.”

Notes

1. During the 2019 regulatory price review, Ofwat introduced a new framework called Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC). This was intended for the provision of major discrete water and wastewater infrastructure projects through third party providers.
2. As part of its Final Determination for the 2024 Regulatory Price Review Ofwat set out a portfolio of 30 major projects (of which 24 are expected to be delivered via DPC) with a whole life cost of circa £50bn.
3. HARP will be delivered using a target cost contract, with the CAP incentivised to outperform the target cost. The target construction cost is subject to adjustment for events which are usually outside the control of and/or not the fault of the contractor, including adjustment for inflation.