The following teams have been invited to negotiate with United Utilities to deliver the first project under regulator Ofwat’s DPC initiative:
HARP Community Connectors: comprising of Acciona, Dragados and Iridium
More Water: comprising of FCC Construcción, SNC-Lavalin, FCC Aqualia, Webuild and BeMo Tunnelling
Strabag Equitix Consortium: comprising of Equitix and Strabag
The winning bidder will design, build, finance and maintain the replacement of the six tunnels sections (approximately 50km) of the Haweswater Aqueduct.
“We are embracing the new Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) delivery approach introduced by Ofwat who we have worked with closely over the last few years to develop the commercial arrangements for this model,” said Neil Gillespie, director of strategic programmes at United Utilities.
A number of contractors and investors in the UK have indicated to Partnerships Bulletin that they are interested in the DPC model, but are more inclined to consider other projects in the pipeline that are below the expected £1bn value of the HARP contract.