IN Brief:
- Ferrovial Construction with MWH Treatment and VolkerFitzpatrick with VolkerStevin Infrastructure have secured the two framework positions.
- An early £450m Coastal Waters Improvement Programme is expected to comprise 10 packages and more than 55 individual schemes.
- The initial five-year framework can be extended for a further five years, potentially taking delivery through 2036.
Anglian Water has selected two joint ventures for a £1.5bn major-projects framework covering some of its largest water and wastewater schemes. Ferrovial Construction with MWH Treatment and VolkerFitzpatrick with VolkerStevin Infrastructure have secured the two positions as the utility changes how major capital work will be delivered through AMP8 and beyond.
The framework will initially run for five years, with an option to extend for a further five years to 2036. Formal contracts are expected after the standstill period, with the joint ventures providing early contractor involvement, design, construction, commissioning, and management of their own supply chains.
The arrangement moves Anglian Water away from the broader multi-contractor alliance approach historically used for some large programmes. The two integrated Tier 1 joint ventures will operate alongside existing structures including the Strategic Pipeline Alliance, @one Alliance, and Integrated Operational Solutions.
One of the first major programmes expected to move through the framework is approximately £450m of Coastal Waters Improvement work during AMP8. It is expected to comprise 10 work packages worth between £15m and £80m and more than 55 individual schemes.
The coastal programme will combine civil engineering, process technology, and additional storage aimed at reducing storm overflow impacts and responding to growth and coastal pressures. Early projects identified in the pipeline include around £100m of work at Southend, £70m at Great Yarmouth, £70m at King’s Lynn, and £30m at Boston.
The framework forms part of a much larger investment cycle across Anglian Water’s region. The company has entered AMP8 with an £11bn investment programme covering treatment works, networks, environmental performance, resilience, and capacity for new development.
Major wastewater projects frequently have to be delivered while existing assets remain operational, leaving contractors to manage shutdown windows, temporary treatment arrangements, constrained access, environmental permits, and connections into live process infrastructure. Early contractor involvement allows buildability, sequencing, temporary works, and specialist supply chain requirements to influence design before construction packages are fixed.
The concentration of major work between two Tier 1 joint ventures also gives Anglian Water fewer principal delivery interfaces across the programme. Specialist contractors and equipment suppliers, meanwhile, will depend on the procurement strategies adopted by those joint ventures as individual work packages move into design and construction.
The selected teams combine civil engineering and process capability. Ferrovial Construction brings major infrastructure experience, while MWH Treatment specialises in water and wastewater delivery. VolkerFitzpatrick and VolkerStevin Infrastructure provide civil engineering, infrastructure, marine, and water-sector capability within the second partnership.
That mix reflects the nature of the expected workload. Large wastewater schemes rarely divide neatly between structural construction and process engineering: tanks, pipelines, pumping systems, mechanical equipment, electrical systems, controls, commissioning, and operational interfaces all have to be coordinated through a single programme.
Supply chain capacity will become increasingly important as AMP8 spending accelerates across the water sector. Process engineers, mechanical and electrical contractors, pipeline specialists, temporary works designers, commissioning teams, and environmental specialists are being sought across multiple utility programmes at the same time.
Anglian Water’s approach therefore puts substantial responsibility on the two joint ventures to build stable specialist supply chains as well as deliver the main civil works. Maintaining continuity between early design and construction could become particularly valuable where repeated asset types or programme-wide standards allow learning to be carried from one project to another.
The framework can extend into AMP9 if Anglian Water exercises the full term, giving the selected teams a potential delivery horizon to 2036. Its immediate workload will begin with the AMP8 pipeline, with contracts expected to be formalised after the current standstill period and the first coastal packages providing an early test of the new delivery model.
