By rosebell
In order to designing, building, financing and maintaining the replacement of six tunnel sections of the Haweswater Aqueduct, United Utilities has announced the preferred bidder.
With the aim of forming the Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP) for the project, which is part of the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP), Strabag Equitix Consortium is the preferred bidder.
Being completed in the 1950s, the original aqueduct supplies water from the Lake District to communities in Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester.For providing a resilient supply of quality drinking water six tunnel sections along the 110km aqueduct route is due to be replaced.
It also includes connections to existing multi-line siphons between the tunnel sections and associated facilities.
As one of the largest water infrastructure projects undertaken in north-west England and the largest undertaken by United Utilities since privatisation, the estimated construction cost of HARP is almost £2.5-2.9bn.
In order to ensuring that it provides the best value for customers,this complex project is being delivered through a Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) model and it is the first time such a model has been used in the UK water sector. While currently the procurement process is in its final stage of financial close, the scheduled date for contract award is the first half of 2025, subject to consent by water regulator Ofwat.
According to United Utilities transformation and strategic programmes director Neil Gillespie: “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.”
In August last year United Utilities announced a shortlist for the role of independent technical adviser. The shortlist is: FR JV and Partners comprising Fluor Ltd and Ramboll UK; Jacobs; and Turner & Townsend Infrastructure Ltd.
