The main board of Network Plus has agreed to take a 50% salary cut in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the joint CEO’s have volunteered to forego 100% of salaries for the same period.

The water industry relies on its contractors and supply chain partners to drive forward best practice in construction, innovate techniques and sustainability, while maintaining high health and safety and employment standards. We have been shortlisted for this award based on our demonstration of a combination of commercial success, agenda-setting innovation, environmental stewardship and workforce best practice.

We have been carrying out the installation of new water mains on behalf of South Staffordshire Water in Merrions Wood, an ancient woodland situated in grade II listed parkland. The wood is home to a variety of protected species.  We received a great thank you letter from ‘Friends of Merrions Wood’ – a group set up to promote and protect the local nature reserve.

Noela Fitton, head of strategic projects at Network Plus, discusses the potential impact of PR19 on contractors and the supply chain.

We’ve been supporting our client, UK Power Networks to respond to Storm Ciara by providing over 80 qualified overhead lines resources and 24 arborists (tree cutting specialists). We’ve been repairing and restoring power supplies in UK Power Networks’ area. Our co-ordinator, Gareth Bowe and Emergency Response Manager, Sharon Sutton have worked really closely with UK Power Networks Operational Managers to identify suitable resources in an agile manner.

We’re working collaboratively with our client United Utilities, to renew 24km of water pipelines in West Cumbria. This major resilience project is to ensure continuous supplies of water for future generations. We’ve deployed a variety of techniques to renew the pipes, including sliplining and innovative use of ‘ice pigging’. John Hilton, Project Director at United Utilities gave us some great feedback recently:

We work closely with our clients to prepare winter resilience plans. Careful planning paid off recently, when we supported Cadent over a 4 day period up to Christmas Eve. Working alongside Cadent resources, we deployed additional engineers and teams from across the country to work in the London area. In total, we mobilised 27 teams in less than 10 hours to provide extra cover. Stuart Fraser, Chief Executive said “this shows that we can provide a fast, flexible service to clients, working collaboratively to support them when they need it most”.

With this new sponsorship Network Plus plans to raise brand awareness with the younger generation and invest within the local community. Network Plus works heavily in the Wrexham area carrying out utility and infrastructure services with clients such as Hafren Dyfrdwy (part of the Severn Trent Water group).