25 June 2019

Costain, the smart infrastructure solutions company, has been appointed as sole Maintenance Service Provider by United Utilities across its operations under a framework contract for an initial period of five years with an option to extend to ten years.

Under the contract Costain will provide overall management and delivery of United Utilities’ larger-scale water and waste water asset maintenance activities across the entirety of its network, including 96 water treatment and 575 waste water treatment sites, which serves over six million people in the North West of England.

This contract marks the first time United Utilities has outsourced its maintenance activity as it seeks to drive material efficiency and operational improvements in line with customer expectations and regulatory requirements.

Costain’s integrated technology and consulting solutions will help United Utilities move from a reactive ‘fix-on-fail’ approach to a proactive maintenance programme thereby improving the resilience of its assets and environmental outcomes whilst ensuring continuity of supply and consequently lowering costs for its customers.

Contract mobilisation will begin immediately in preparation for the official start in June 2019. The framework is expected to be worth c £35 million per annum throughout the duration of the contract.

The Group continues to be involved in a wide range of tendering activity across the UK water sector in anticipation of AMP7 (2020-2025) for which companies have pledged to spend more than £50 billion on improving services, a double-digit increase on the previous period.

Alex Vaughan, CEO of Costain, commented:

“By integrating our programme management, asset optimisation and technology capabilities, Costain will help United Utilities to support its business transformation. Our integrated services and use of digital technology will help to deliver a step change in business performance and operational efficiencies for United Utilities in support of their strategy and in line with customer expectations and regulatory requirements.”

ENDS