Project overview
amey–binnies is an award-winning joint venture, delivering Scottish Water’s SR15 wastewater infrastructure programme of capital work and providing expertise in the design and construction of civil engineering infrastructure. The programme is creating a modern, sustainable drainage network to alleviate flooding across Scotland, from the borders to Orkney, and including a significant number of projects around greater Glasgow. Over the last six years, the partnership has delivered a £425 million sewer system investment programme and over 300 projects, including the installation of new sewers, sewer repairs, storage tanks, overflow structures and pumping stations, ranging in value from £100,000 to £25 million.
Our role
amey-binnies (ab) provides full design and construction management services under the alliance. The project, programme, commercial, management and planning run from project concept stage through to construction commissioning and handover and include fully detailed project- and programme-level analysis and reporting. ab works with Scottish Water and key stakeholders to optimise the programme in a fully collaborative manner, the key objective of which is to ensure alignment of the project, programme and portfolio management with Scottish Water’s regulatory contract.
To assist in optimising the delivery process, ab has implemented a ‘runway approach’ workflow pattern, using a list of key attributes to prioritise and schedule each group of projects, coupled with early decision-making to determine the most efficient programme. ab is delivering the programme with a blend of in-house and specialist contractors that gives an optimum balance of construction capacity and flexibility to provide maximum delivery efficiency and outstanding customer service. Detailed and accurate planning has led to collaborative behaviours across the project team, cashflow assurance and risk reduction.
As part of the ab annual business plan for 2019/20, a target of a 10% reduction in carbon emissions was set for the design and development stage. The design team was set a challenge of developing feasibility studies through to detailed ‘for construction’ designs with a reduced carbon impact. In that year, the ab design team achieved a 26% reduction in carbon impact through the detailed design phase, thus exceeding the 10% business target by some margin. The measured carbon impact fell from 13,100 to 9750 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), a reduction representing the equivalent of about 540 round-the-world car journeys.
Sewer network improvements took place in close proximity to residential areas and the work could have been disruptive for the residents. A programme of communications was employed for each project so that communities were informed and disruption was minimised. The delivery teams worked hard to accommodate the needs of residents by ensuring safe access, clear signage and traffic diversions. Close working with the community enabled us to accommodate access requirements for residents.
