United Utilities

Meet Andrew, Dave and their collection of toys found in the sewers! From Teletubbies and Paw Patrol to Batman and Spiderman, we are always surprised by the weird and wonderful things that end up in our sewers. Over the years, our vactor operator, Andrew, has been building quite the collection whilst cleaning our wastewater assets. No job is too big or too small for our Vactor Services team from blocked drains to tanks the size of football pitches and everything in between. They can often find themselves underground, up to 40 metres deep! Thank you Andrew and Dave, and please remember to help keep drains blockage free by only flushing the 3Ps - Poo, Pee and (toilet) Paper - and disposing of cooled cooking fats and oils in the bin. https://lnkd.in/ekg6mFQc #vactorservices #collection #toys #sewers #weirdandwonderful #stoptheblock #blockages #drains #cleaning #wastewater

WOW! Teams working at our site along Hoyles Lane, Preston, rewarded with accolades and WOW awards from local residents. During our wastewater project to alleviate historical flooding issues, strengthening our network for growing communities, our colleagues demonstrated exceptional customer service and community engagement, being treated to brews, hot meals and even picnics. One heart-warming moment involved assisting a lady to the next bus stop as our work caused the temporary closure of her closest one. This is one of many schemes across the North West to safeguard the future of our network as communities grow. To find out more visit: https://lnkd.in/eBsZ5xix #community #wowaward #customerservice Bethell Group

We’re proud to have supported a community group with their beach cleaning efforts. The Hightown beach cleaners, based in Merseyside, now have a large wheelbarrow, buckets, bin bag holders, sharps boxes, shovels, throw lines, clothing and footwear which is helping to make the hard work of beach cleaning a whole lot easier. Our river ranger Ashleigh handed over the equipment, donated via the United Utilities Better Rivers Community Fund, and joined their litter-pick near Blundell Sands. Groups whose activities benefit local watercourses and riverside environments can apply to the fund for up to £2,500 worth of support by emailing Stakeholderrelations@uuplc.co.uk #rivers #communityfund #betterrivers #community #beachclean

As we celebrate the last few days of South Asian Heritage Month, we want to look back at the amazing events that our Multi Cultural network have held recently to celebrate this year’s theme of 'Free to be me'. The team hosted a tasty stand of traditional food to all colleagues, raising over £500 for local causes. This was paired with a session of authentic Saree draping, an art form passed down through many generations, with each tuck and fold representing a piece of cultural history. We were also joined recently by award-winning career coach and inclusion consultant Sunita Harley (she/her) Collective Insight who shared her knowledge and experience in celebrating diversity and honouring legacy! #diversity #inclusiveworkplace #southasianhertiagemonth

Our Customer Service teams joined forces with our recruitment partner Reed for our very first joint recruitment day! We invited our local community to learn more about what we do, all part of our mission to provide jobs in the North West for the North West, with 90% of attendees putting in an application form. Well done to our contact centre advisors for sharing their personal journeys, the support they’ve received, and what it’s really like to work with us. A huge thank you to everyone who made this day a success, and we can’t wait to welcome more new faces to our team! If you’re interested in a role like this contact: north.sourcingcentre@reed.com #recruitment #community #northwest #training #wellbeing #culture #support #thankyou #teams

We’re accelerating investment and rolling out new solutions at sites across the North West to reduce spills from storm overflows. These solutions will allow us to increase the treatment and storage capacity, reducing the number of times the storm overflows at these locations will operate. Shelina Begum shares how our work in at Tintwistle in Greater Manchester will ensure the River Etherow continues to be enjoyed for future generations. These solutions are enabling us to reduce spills now and form part of our accelerated programme of works which will help to reduce storm overflow spills by 60% over the decade to 2030. #greatermanchester #rivers #waterquality #investment

As we continue our work around Bury to improve water quality within the River Roch, the project has taken a significant step forward. We are proud to introduce Rochelle the tunnelling machine, named after the River Roch, itself. Rochelle will be used as a part of a project to help construct a new section of a tunnelled sewer pipeline under Openshaw Park. The machine was lowered into a launch pit and will now spend the next three weeks tunnelling a 60m route. When complete, the new sewer pipeline will play a vital role in improving water quality, helping to reduce the number of times that the storm overflows operate during heavy rainfall. This one of multiple projects we are working on within the Bury area. Bethell Group #bury #tunnellingmachine #waterquality #betterrivers #engineering

Our headquarters in Lingley Mere, Warrington, is now home to three SuDSPods, an innovative solution for managing rainwater created by GreenBlue Urban. These are much more than just planters! They capture rainwater runoff from roofs and release a controlled flow into the sewer network, reducing peak flows by 76% during storms and easing the burden on combined sewer systems. This installation follows our successful case study in Staveley, Cumbria, where SuDSPods were first introduced. We are excited to showcase these SuDSPods on-site and look forward to phase two, which includes monitoring the performance and benefits in our own environment. This will provide valuable insights and learnings for future implementations. #rainwatermanagement #innovation #planters #network #flow #water #runoff #warrington

Congratulations to our West Cumbria team! We are so proud to announce that our team has won three prestigious awards at the Royal Town Planning Institute North West Awards! Our complex pipeline project, which supplies water to 80,000 homes and businesses in Cumbria from Thirlmere reservoir, was honoured for its outstanding planning and delivery. The team won ‘Best Project’, ‘Excellence in Planning’ and, ‘Best in Region’ as well as being commended for having “multiple direct and indirect benefits for the natural environment and water resource management”. A big thank you to the Lake District National Park Authority, Allerdale Borough Council, Copeland Borough Council, Natural England, and The Environment Agency for their collaboration and support. Well done to the team for their hard work and dedication! #award #project #pipeline #supplies #water #planning #delivery #environment #teamwork

This year we joined forces with the Environment Agency and Lancashire County Council to showcase a unique domestic garden setting at RHS Tatton. The garden, installed by award winning designer, Leon Davis, demonstrated how garden owners can create their own climate friendly gardens and reuse water better in our outdoor spaces, which in turn helps improve river water quality. The garden is part of a wider educational project called 'Unpave the Way' which is being led by the North West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee with representation from our Rainwater Management team. Later in the year the garden will be permanently relocated to Whitaker Park in Lancashire. #sustainable #garden #environment #RHSTatton #rainwatermanagement #conservation #water