Anglian Water will use AI to forecast and efficiently deliver crucial large-scale water infrastructure projects and project portfolios during the UK water regulator’s upcoming ‘AMP8’ investment window, which will run from 2025 to 2030.
Ofwat has responded to public calls to tackle storm overflows by recommending a “record’ £88 billion allocation of public money to sixteen water companies – more than trebling the level of investment undertaken in its previous investment period. However, Ofwat has charged water companies with ensuring the unprecedented sums they will be given are employed efficiently, and do not lead to greater waste than in previous asset management periods. Partnering with nPlan is a key part of Anglian Water’s strategy for ensuring it achieves this objective while maximising the value delivered to taxpayers and customers.
nPlan’s software utilises Predictive AI and the world’s biggest library of past project plans (over 750,000 and counting) to forecast the likely duration of construction activities, understand when key milestones are likely to be reached, and surface the activities most likely to drive delay – with far greater accuracy and speed than human analysts. Crucially, these capabilities can also be ‘rolled up’ and applied across portfolios of projects, enabling users of nPlan’s portfolio-focused product, nPlan Portfolio to quantify the ‘deliverability’ of a portfolio, identify problem projects and systemic risks to delivery, and make smart decisions about how resources are allocated. Partnering with nPlan will also enable Anglian Water to boost operational efficiencies as fewer people will be able to provide an increased level of more valuable oversight, streamlining portfolio and project management processes across the board.
The agreement builds on a successful initial engagement in which Anglian Water used nPlan to assure and de-risk the delivery of more than 200 projects within its AMP7 portfolio. During that engagement, Anglian Water representatives were particularly impressed with the way nPlan Portfolio allowed them to increase the effectiveness of Portfolio Boards (crucial review meetings), and assess the deliverability of schedules presented by contractors so that they could provide precise and constructive feedback that improved the outcome of each project. Anglian Water plans to use nPlan’s technology to assure and manage as many as 1400 projects during AMP8.
“During the AMP8 regulatory period, UK water companies are set to invest nearly 90% more in water resilience and supply projects than during AMP7. With such a significant expansion in investment and ambition, the challenge for companies like Anglian Water is ensuring we can scale our delivery capabilities to match,” said Euan Black, Head of Delivery Portfolio Management at Anglian Water.
“nPlan is a critical part of our strategy to ensure predictable delivery and provide effective oversight across our entire investment programme. By leveraging AI and historical data, we can make smarter, data-driven decisions and provide live reports to more than 300 stakeholders across the business, ensuring transparency and accountability. More importantly, this partnership will deliver direct benefits to our customers. With nPlan, we can better plan and coordinate work schedules, reducing disruptions caused by construction activities such as road closures. This not only cuts down delivery costs but also minimises inconvenience to the public, ultimately allowing us to provide a smoother, more efficient service.”
Dev Amratia, CEO of nPlan, commented: “With this partnership, Anglian Water is positioned to become a best-in-class performer: by leveraging insights from across the global water industry, its project teams can seamlessly apply lessons learned from past projects, reducing risk, improving efficiency, and delivering better outcomes for customers. Our agreement with Anglian Water is another milestone for nPlan, an important validation of our portfolio management product, and reflects our commercial momentum, which has been increasing through 2024.”
