There are a range of challenges facing the water industry, but we ensure that our clients’ objectives are our main priority, working together to tackle them head-on:

Customer service

One thing will be doing the job right the first time. Our helpdesk service works extremely well, and has providing an invaluable service during lockdown, but on occasion we going back to site more than once; we want to be able to do things right the first time; and by continuing to build relationships with landowners we can improve ease of access to site for emergency works.

We believe in our clients’ customer service and have our own methods to keep up with those. We are experts in our field- and have a key understanding of the statutory rights our water clients have over land- we regulate these ourselves, but also work towards educating the client to ensure smooth running of projects on private land.

Value for money

To ensure smooth running of projects and nurturing the right expertise within the client team and within DM, we are working towards increasing efficiency for the client. We are giving rounded, holistic advice at this stage which will stand the test of time and provide best value in the future.

Resilience

Our clients will need to continue working to improve existing networks and also install new mains, reservoirs and assets to support that. This will help to supply new developments to keep up with demands for housing, and strengthen what’s already there, and the demand on the sector from climate change, like drought and flooding.

We are under increasing pressure to make the most of the resources that we’ve got. As well as a wealth of experience, we have the infrastructure and systems in place like Mapthat and Connect to work with designers, engineers, project teams to understand what everyone needs to deliver. Our unique position as the leading land access specialists in the water sector allows us to assist not just one client, but to take our experience and roll it out across the whole industry. Our thought-leadership and ability to think outside the box to get the job done facilitates projects on behalf of our clients to meet their goals.

In the distribution of water, we can look to other sectors, like gas. Look at National Grid, who provide the ‘motorway system’ and the Environment Agency’s power look at more flood management schemes; we can easily apply our knowledge across more than one sector.

Flooding and catchment management:

This is a relatively new thing but with an increasing focus on climate change it is going to come to the forefront of challenges for our clients. They are already working with landowners to improve water quality. With our rural background and knowledge we are perfectly placed to advise on the practicalities of using rural land to look at things like reducing sediment by slowing water flow. As part of that service, our land referencing system on Connect allows us to provide landowner information to clients quickly so that they can start engaging and looking into new initiatives quickly and accurately.

We have always worked with the Environment Agency and water companies, but we are really pleased to see increasingly collaboration between the two, with us in the middle, to get these projects delivered in line with the targets set by Ofwat.

We have been working with UK Water companies since Dalcour Maclaren’s inception in 2003, and since then our industry knowledge has allowed us to keep up to date with what our clients require from us, and what the regulators require from them. As we look ahead to the rest of AMP7, AMP8 and a post-Covid world, we will continue to collaborate to ensure efficiencies are met to ensure we can deliver a sustainable and bright future for Water.

This is The Future: Delivered