Supply chain capacity will be the biggest barrier to record investment in water infrastructure. Bobby Brown, Head of Water at Ridge, has four strategies for more efficient delivery

The water industry in England and Wales is one-tenth of the way through a five-year regulatory cycle that represents its greatest delivery challenge yet. Between April 2025 and 2030, it is required to invest a record £104 billion to reduce sewage overflows, improve water quality, make supplies more resilient and enhance the environment – more than double the previous five-year target.  

To meet it, the sector will have to overcome many competing pressures and priorities, but the biggest break on delivery will be the capacity of the supply chain. Water companies are expanding their frameworks, but the government has promised to invest £725 billion in the UK’s infrastructure over the next ten years, and major programmes in other sectors will be competing for the same resource.  

That means it’s never been more important to look at how projects are delivered and identify barriers and opportunities to improve efficiency. By retooling internal processes, procurement, programme management and public engagement, they can improve performance and set suppliers up to succeed. Here are four strategies for accelerating progress.  

Free up internal bottlenecks  

Water companies are strengthening internal delivery teams, but it’s equally important to assess the capacity of essential support functions, including finance and governance. Constraints and inefficiencies can have significant downstream impacts. For instance, if an approvals board takes place only once a month, this can delay projects that are otherwise ready for execution, causing ripple effects throughout the programme. 

This is not about compromising on scrutiny or governance, and it’s not just a question of staffing levels. It’s a management consultancy exercise to evaluate organisational structures, identify blockers and ensure processes are streamlined, agile and proportionate to the risks involved. Read more on the internal changes that can support a step-change in delivery.  

Get suppliers onboard early  

Clients are increasingly recognising the benefits of setting up supplier frameworks earlier, engaging sooner with estates teams on premobilisation activities, and involving contractors during the design process.  

This allows them to benefit from contractor advice on buildability, preventing delays later on. It also reduces programme risk by allowing contractors to put together the right team and place advance orders for key materials and equipment. Lead times can be tyrannously long, and jobs may be reliant on a specialist piece of plant, of which there may only be a handful in Europe.   

Recognise that nature-based solutions take longer to evidence  

Water companies are under pressure from regulators to implement nature-based solutions, as part of a wider push to enhance environments and move towards Net Zero. This might involve constructing swales, wetlands or sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) to manage stormwater and improve quality, as opposed to hard engineering concrete structures with high embodied carbon. The benefits are widely understood, but it does take longer to demonstrate regulatory compliance. Programmes need to be adjusted to take this into account.  

This means looking several years ahead, starting catchment surveys and modelling exercises sooner, and factoring in additional time to secure approval from stakeholders such as Natural England. Flexibility should be built in at programme level too, so that a delay in one project doesn’t impact the next. 

Counter negative perceptions
Public perceptions of the water sector are at an all-time low, and that does impact delivery. Consultation takes longer and is more fraught, and schemes face greater resistance. When works cause inconvenience, negative press coverage exacerbates tensions and adds to the pressure.  

Water companies already do great work in public liaison and marketing, but there’s room for more. First, we need to overcome the data transparency paradox: the picture looks worse now because we have better data. We need to turn this into a positive story: we’re not failing, we’re finally measuring what matters.  

Second, we need to educate the public about the complexity of water projects and articulate the benefits. This is a sector full of passionate people who want to leave a positive legacy, and we need to communicate that more widely, whether through adverts or presenting to school children.  

Ultimately, the best way to demonstrate the value of the sector’s work will be to step up the pace of delivery and meet investment targets. This five-year cycle is a critical moment: strong performance now is essential to address legacy underinvestment and respond to population growth and climate change. It will also be the benchmark by which future business plans are judged by the proposed “super-regulator”, a single integrated organisation with the power to enforce higher standards. By taking this opportunity to modernise not only our water infrastructure but the way we work together to build it, we can set the UK’s water sector up for a new era of success.  

Bobby Brown is Head of Water at Ridge. Contact him at bobbybrown@ridge.co.uk 

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