Northumbrian Water's Innovation Festival 2024 to include 30 project sprints

Northumbrian Water’s next annual Innovation Festival will run from 8-11 July, deploying its 'Design Sprint' approach to addressing major water sector issues with 30 sprints scheduled along with data hacks and other projects.

Brief summaries of the sprinter are below – fuller descriptions are available HERE.

Sprint leaders and brief summaries of their aims:

Advizzo and Calisten

Stem the cumulative losses from small internal plumbing leaks to make a significant impact on losses.

Autodesk

Transform how high-quality information can be created during asset construction to improve management throughout the entire lifecycle each asses.

Ahove, Esh Stantec and Galliford Try

Create a detailed plan of how the construction sector can realise plans to reduce its carbon footprint through measures including low-carbon incentives in contracts, phasing out fossil fuel use and eliminating the most carbon intensive concrete and steel products.

BAM Nuttall

The Living Water Enterprise has a unique opportunity to collaborate in new ways and raise standards in wellbeing and safety across the UK water sector. This sprint will seek to devise collective measures to drive forward meaningful change and ensure that everyone goes home safe and well everyday.  

CK Delta

Curb unauthorised use of water for various purposes including use of bowsers and road sweepers abstracting from water company hydrants, hydrants and pop-up car washes.

Cognizant

Give customers confidence that we care about what matters to them though their encounters with water companies to include creating memorable journeys at every touchpoint, from turning a tap to mishaps and hurdles and showing customers that we care about our rivers, our lakes. 

Connexin

Using smart data from water and other services to enable elderly and disabled customers to live in their homes for longer, and give carers confidence. 

Costain and WSP

Managing risk to improve regulatory compliance while exceeding the regulatory programme amid an increased scale of investment and subsequent increase in operational asset interventions And to do this without adversely impacting operational or maintenance resources and while allowing innovation in the systems. 

Esri UK

To mitigate the impacts of major incidents with any utility on other utilities. 

Farrans and CCW

Enable water companies to engage with their customers so their preferences considered effectively, and they are genuinely involved and empowered when companies make decisions about the water and sewage services they receive and how they receive them.

Jacobs

To develop plans for finance and co-investment in integrated catchment solutions and a blueprint for national change. And to identify “unlikely allies”,  to help us unlock transformational investment in nature-based solutions, using the Thriving Catchments programme in the North East, as a case study.

Jacobs Stantec and Royal HasonningDHV

To develop two wastewater and sludge treatment sites which produce biogas and fertiliser products by identifying available and forthcoming technologies.

Makutu, Microsoft, Rs Hydro and Skyports

To develop an existing project using drones to address challenges in real-time sampling of coastal waters through measures including: new battery technologies to increase the flight time; making the drone more resilient to the elements; making sampling and testing devices suspended from the drone lighter; and reducing the weight of the drone components.

Mott Macdonald and Bentley

Future proofing ahead of AMP8 and beyond by incorporating design for manufacture and assembly, modular and offsite construction. 

MWH

Develop targeted strategies to manage an increase in capital work without disrupting operations at Northumbrian Water by balancing allocation of resources, prioritising projects by operational impact and regulatory requirements, and implementing proactive risk management measures to mitigate potential hazards and service interruptions.

National Robotarium

To identify the robotic technology being used across industry to address operational and safety challenges in, for example, inspection of water mains and other buried assets and how we can adopt/ adapt technology in the short term and long term to address challenges arising form the increased scale of AMP investment.

Net Zero North East England

To seek measures to build confidence in purchasing carbon offsets across a range of different initiatives and encourage organisations to invest in projects which impact the region in which we live and work. And to consider projects focused not only on carbon savings, but on multiple co-benefits such as flood defences, or community energy projects.

Newcastle University

To look for means to enable us to flip from seeing rain/stormwater as a problem to be solved in sewers into a valuable resource to be harvested and used to help us weather these extremes.

Northumbria University

Addressing multiple areas including integrating cutting edge innovations into existing asset bases, innovating around programme and project management, developing innovative financing partnerships to make everyone’s money go further; and developing a diverse, multidisciplinary talent pool to design, build and operate assets while simultaneously tackling education and training, products and services, business models and processes, and policy and planning. 

Northumbrian Water 

Investigating more cost-effective advanced methods used in other sectors or in development to create opportunities for the water sector to become more effective in monitoring, forecasting and communicating its asset health.

Northumbrian Water 

Re-imagining the use of trolleys used in transporting bottles around the lab, considering new and improved systems for tracking and storage of samples in-line with our rigorous quality control system and regulatory requirements, and looking at the ways in which bottles are disposed of at the end of their lifespan. 

Ofwat Innovation Fund

Explore the barriers to new innovations being adopted at scale in the water sector, and how Ofwat, water companies, and suppliers (new and existing) can work together to overcome them.

Ordnance Survey

Looking at how we allow development and restore a protected area at the same time in planning and delivering marine restoration schemes.

Portsmouth Water and Kraken

To develop a customer journey playbook with fantastic visualisation, along with supporting views on how emerging and existing technology may be utilised to deliver these techniques.  

Qualitest

To redefine customer interactions, streamline operations, and harness artificial intelligence to create seamless, efficient, and enjoyable experiences. 

Ros-shire Engineering

 The focus will be what can we construct / improve with technology and manage existing storm overflows.

Social Housing Innovation North East

Create a collaboration framework that fosters better connections between public entities such as the NHS and Local Authorities to enable Housing Associations and their partners to work together on shared challenges utilising GIS mapping.

Siemens

To develop a scalable “as a Service” business model with insights into how real-time monitoring can synergise with leak detection technologies and explore consumer responses to immediate alerts. And to advance this project toward becoming "Business as Usual" for UK Water.

Stantec and Xylem

How we might collaborate across the catchment to implement a comprehensive, sustainable monitoring plan for the Ouseburn that inspires everyone to improve the health of the river?

Suez

We will explore what issues the wastewater treatments of the future will might have to deal with, including water scarcity and water quality, and design an all new method to cope with these changes.

TCS

Exploring what is possible with generative artificial intelligence and understand the challenges to its implementation within the water industry with questions including: how can it enhance efficiency and effectiveness for chemical dosing, and how can it optimise filter health for more efficient and sustainable operations.

Turner & Townsend and Aqua Consultants

To explore the use of innovative tools such as wargaming to be able to better prepare policy for an uncertain future. 

University of Sheffield, Minicam, EMS and NWG

Seek a way to detect the build-up of materials in a sewer blockages before they become a blockage to  eradicate spills and sewer flooding.

Vyntelligence NWG and Visa

Look at the leak of essential frontline skills from the water industry explore how an ecosystem of companies can steam this leak through utilities’ contracting forms, collaboration in marketplaces and payment facilitators to create a vibrant and attractive offer to draw skill into the industry; making it easier to find and receive payment for quality work; and drawing local skills to scale the workforce for AMP8.

WRc

Investigate structural relining as an alternative to mains replacement,  enabling extensions of 30+years to the asset life of viable pipes at much lower unit costs than replacement.