Future Water

It was an absolute privilege to welcome Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP, to Havant Thicket Reservoir today. As the first new UK reservoir in more than 30 years, the project represents a major investment in the water industry. It will play a fundamental role in protecting precious chalk rivers by providing a new, sustainable source of water for the region. The Secretary of State had the opportunity to see progress on site, including the creation of the very first permanent structure to be built - a new culvert (or tunnel) which will allow water to be drawn down, treated and supplied to customers. This is a key moment for the project, marking the move towards our 'big build' phase which will continue over four years. We look forward to welcoming the Secretary of State and his team back as we reach future milestones. 

It's a real privilege to be building Havant Thicket Reservoir - the first in a series of major new reservoirs across the UK. Sharing our learning with other water companies, who are also embarking on this journey, is vital. We were therefore delighted to welcome colleagues from Anglian Water Services to site this week. Together with our contractor Future Water, we talked through key aspects of our own project including planning, design, project set up and delivery. Thank you Mark Thurston, Siân Thomas, Rebecca Harrison, Jim Foster and James Lee for joining us. This is such an exciting time for the water industry and we look forward to welcoming you back in the future to see progress!

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, last week one of our apprentices took part in the Shaping Portsmouth Apprenticeship Bus Roadshow, visiting local schools to share her experience working at Havant Thicket Reservoir and her Civil Engineering apprenticeship.   Esther was joined by other apprentices from around the Portsmouth area from a variety of professions, including apprentices from Portsmouth Water, and reflected on the day with the following:   “It was a great opportunity to meet students at local schools wanting to find out more about the types of roles they can undertake as an apprentice and how the courses are run. I also really enjoyed meeting and networking with other apprentices whilst we travelled around to the different schools, it was really interesting to find out what they do and how many different opportunities are available via apprenticeships.”   Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK ‖ Mackley

Mackley has been busy on site at Havant Thicket Reservoir with our colleagues at Future Water, a joint venture project with Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK.   The concrete culvert for the reservoir outlet pipe will be around 232m long and 12m high, running through the main embankment and connecting to the reservoir pipeline being constructed by Ward & Burke. As this is a crucial piece of infrastructure at the reservoir, a 3m trial section of the future culvert was cast, away from its final location to inform its design and construction. Mackley constructed this trial culvert which provided the opportunity to test the construction methodology that will ultimately be used for the 19 sections of culvert which will be poured in situ using bespoke formwork. We were able to test various concrete providers and identify ways that the formwork can be erected and then subsequently moved along to build the adjacent section more efficiently. The success of this trial means that we will be able to confidently move forward to the first section of the permanent work applying everything learned from the trial. The formwork itself will be used for the permanent works and the trial culvert will be kept on site and used as a teaching resource. It has already been an immensely useful exercise for our experts on site and in the future it will be used for civil engineering students and school visits to demonstrate how everything works behind the scenes, or indeed, under the ground! #civilengineering #reservoir #culvert #formwork #concrete

Last week we were pleased to welcome members of South East Water's Broad Oak Reservoir team to Havant Thicket Reservoir. The visit offered the opportunity to share learning from the planning, design and construction phases, as well as for the team to see the work which has been completed so far. We look forward to welcoming the team back in the future to see further progress! Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK ‖ Mackley ‖ Portsmouth Water

It was a pleasure to welcome the local community to our Havant Thicket Reservoir site recently, giving visitors an opportunity to meet our team and to find out more about the reservoir and its construction. We look forward to hosting many more events like this in the future!

It was great to attend iConstruct last week, an annual event designed to encourage years 7-9 to think about career pathways before they choose their GCSEs by helping them learn more about future careers in construction and the built environment. At the event all students are given a storyline, in this case the build of a nightingale hospital, and must research different companies and the roles they might play around this scenario. On the Future Water stand, we talked about how Havant Thicket Reservoir could protect water supply to the nightingale hospital, demonstrating the different materials we are using the build the reservoir. We also looked at different roles within our site and the skills that are needed – everything from engineering to ecology. Once students have toured the stands, they were charged with presenting their findings to industry professionals. Our Havant Thicket Project Director and one of our Project Managers took part in the judging for these presentations and coming away inspired by their thoughtful presentations. Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK ‖ Mackley ‖ Portsmouth Water

We've recently said goodbye to our Summer Placement student who has worked closely with our Civils team. Find out more about his experience below ⬇

COFFEY GEOTECHNICS LIMITED is proud to be the geotechnical designer for this incredible project. We are looking forward to working with Portsmouth Water and their partners, together with Future Water and the rest of the design team to build this new reservoir over the next few years.

Another major project milestone has been reached at Havant Thicket Reservoir with the completion of an official groundbreaking ceremony. Chief Executives of Portsmouth Water and Southern Water were joined by the Chair of OFWAT, Iain Coucher, and Environment Agency Area Director, Simon Moody, to mark the start of main construction, accompanied by one of our Future Water apprentices and two pupils from local schools. To find out more about the event, please visit - https://lnkd.in/gVjWeM5d Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK ‖ Mackley