Author: hps-admin

The UK is at the forefront of the water industry worldwide. However, the UK sector faces challenges from population growth, climate change, changing customer expectations and the transfer of private pumping stations all over the UK. So what are the British Pumping Station?

The supply of water and wastewater in England and Wales was privatised in 1989. Originally ten companies were formed to supply water and wastewater. Their responsibilities included abstraction, treatment, collection, and the return of waste water to the aquatic environment. These services are provided by 32 privately-owned companies in England and Wales. Water companies in England and Wales will invest more than £8 billion in 2018-19. The investment comes in the fourth year of a £44 billion spending promise from 2015 to 2020. Over that 5-year period, the funding will guarantee that more than 370 million litres a day is prevented from leaking from pipes, nearly 5000 less properties will be flooded with sewer water, and there will be cleaner water at more than 50 beaches. Now over 50 million household and non-household consumers receive good quality water, sanitation, and drainage services.

On the 1st October 2016 thousands of private pumping stations transferred to water companies in England and Wales. This was the biggest shake up of the water sector in the last twenty years. In some cases, the adoption amounted to a significant addition to companies’ asset base. Some of the stations were difficult to access, many were in poor condition and all will continue to require ongoing active maintenance and monitoring to mitigate risk.

Some homes or businesses have drainage systems with pumps located inside large manholes, also known as wet wells, that pump the wastewater into the nearest sewer network. The stations are usually accompanied by a kiosk, normally green or grey in colour, which house the electrical equipment.

The main issues that faced the water companies throughout the transfer was based on the condition and location of these pumping stations. Thousands of pumping stations are untraceable, in bad condition and difficult to locate. When the agreement was made in 2011 to start this transfer, water companies predicted thousands of stations would have to be transferred. Original research shows that Northumbrian Water had over 2000 whilst Thames Water had between 10-40 thousand.

During Utility Week Live, Anna Hodson (Customer Experience Manager at Thames Water) explained that there are four core areas to understand if they are to comply with their customer’s needs.

CORE 1:   Owner-Tracking down the owner of the pumping station

CORE 2:   Hosts-  Is the pumping station on a residential property.

CORE 3:   Users- Who uses the pumping station?

CORE 4: Neighbours- How will the transfer affect local resident surrounding the station.

For a smooth transfer during these months it was important for water frameworks to understand these areas. Customer satisfaction was a priority, however there were other potential implications to consider for the UK water industry going forward.

Over the next ten years there will be an increased demand for water and sewerage services and the cost of maintenance will increase. The UK population is expected to increase to 73.3 million by 2037, an increase of ten million since 2013. Increased surface run off from household buildings and urbanisation will increase the risk of overloaded sewers.

What do you think about this? Did you agree with the transfer of the pumping stations? Let us know by tweeting us @HighfieldREC

Blog Post written by Tom, Recruitment Consultant for Highfield Professional Solutions

The rise of renewable energy is still a huge talking point, therefore it is no big surprise that the debate of nuclear vs renewable energy is still at the forefront of most headlines. As we start to see just how much renewable energy is on the incline, can we really be sure that renewable energy is the way to go?

We know that renewable energy is on the rise due how convenient it is. It is much faster to install and much more scalable than nuclear power is. There is a myth that we need to build more nuclear power if we want to cut electricity emissions quickly. This is something than renewable energy is keen to suppress, especially with it fast becoming the most popular source of power.

There are many advantages of renewable energy. One major advantage renewable energy has over nuclear is that it can typically be installed much faster. Nuclear power plants can require 5-15 years to complete and some have taken much longer than this. There is no doubt that this is obviously going to sway people to choose renewable energy over nuclear.

To make a clear example of this, installing a solar power farm can be completed in a number of months, depending on the extent and complexity of the project. The same can be said about wind farms, which is also only a matter of months depending on the projects complexity. In 2017 alone, China managed to install around 52 MW of solar, this is around 330 acres. The continued popularity of this energy source is bound to go from strength to strength if it continues to become this easily available.

If this continued popularity continues to flourish, the cost of renewables is more likely to keep decreasing, especially as fossil fuel usage declines. With more demand and adoption, it will continue to increase the innovation to make renewables more and more efficient which will in turn boost their effectiveness and the speed at which you can get large amounts of power onto the grid.

Renewable energy is more scalable and better to address global warming than nuclear, mainly because it costs much less, takes less time to install, and doesn’t carry the problem of potentially causing disastrous damage.

All in all, it seems that renewable energy is the way to go, with it being more cost effective and much faster to install we are bound to see this become the most popular source of energy in years to come.

What do you think about this form of energy? Do you think that this is the best way to go or do you think nuclear will always win? Tweet us @HighfieldREC to let us know.

The skills shortage in the construction industry is not fresh news. However, it seems to be more evident now than ever before. Will the skills shortage affect the Governments plans to build?

As we have witnessed in the last couple of weeks, 2018 has already proven that there is a strain on the construction industry due to the collapse of Carillion. It seems now we are seeing an even bigger stress with shortage in skills for the industry hitting the worst level on record. This is going to hugely affect the industry due to the number of projects that are planned over the next year.

The current skills shortage is threatening the government’s grand plan to build hundreds of thousands of houses annually. The government has set itself an ambitious target to build 300,000 homes every year in England alone, so this current issue is going to cause huge problems. According to the Federation of Master Builders quarterly report, they found that construction companies are struggling to recruit bricklayers and carpenters when they are in such a high demand at the moment. The demand for skilled plumbers, electricians and plasterers is also in high demand.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB has said “Skills shortages are skyrocketing, and it begs the question: who will build the new homes and infrastructure projects the Government is crying out for?”. The struggle to hire bricklayers is a huge setback for the government as this is one of the key trades in the building industry.

The FMB have said that wages are rising sharply for skilled tradespeople. This, along with the increase in cost of materials, is causing a massive blow to construction companies. With the uncertainty of Brexit still looming, many construction companies are calling out the government to ensure that they make the best decisions when it comes to the construction industry. Without skilled labour from the EU, the skills shortages the construction industry faces would be considerably worse.

The current positivity that the FMB is taking from this news is that the collapse of Carillion has meant that there will be many skilled tradespeople looking for employment, and hopefully this will mean that the skills gaps will get better.

The FMB have said that they are now working with the Department for Work and Pensions as well as the Construction Industry Training Board to matchmake ex-Carillion workers with small construction employers in need of skilled workers.

The Executive for FMB said, “We’re also working hard as an industry to rehome the 1,200 Carillion apprentices who are the innocent victims of the major contractor’s demise,” Mr Berry said.

“It’s in everyone’s interests to ensure that these young people continue on their path to a rewarding career in construction.”

Hopefully this will be the last we see of the skills shortage in construction for a long time. What with Brexit negotiations still on going, and the hope to place ex Carillion employees to fill the current gap, will we start to begin to bridge the current collapse.?

What do you think of the current skills shortage in the Construction Industry? Have you been affected at all? Let us know, tweet us @HighfieldREC.