AMP6 Infrastructure Term Service Contract

Description of works

In July 2015 Cappagh were awarded the AMP6 Infrastructure Term Service Contract by Portsmouth Water Limited.  In October 2019, the contract was extended for a further 5 years for AMP7.  The area supplied by Portsmouth Water extends through South East Hampshire and West Sussex, encompassing 868 square kilometres and in excess of 660,000 domestic customers plus commercial businesses.

Delivered through an NEC Term Service Contract framework, the scope of work includes water mains and services renewals, new mains installations and connections on developer sites, meter option installations and permanent reinstatement of Portsmouth Water’s and Cappagh’s works.  

Cappagh employs circa 60 people, most of whom are co-located with the client’s staff and is responsible for surveying mains renewal schemes, planning, proposing cost efficient construction methods that minimise disruption, programming works using MS Project and production of pre-construction phase plans.  Considerable attention is given to customer and stakeholder strategy and planning.  For the meter options work stream, Cappagh surveys every customer’s property to ensure it is suitable to receive a meter and to prove the supply.  Cappagh’s team install the meter in a new meter housing and then backfill with a soil stabiliser prior to the reinstatement being carried out, as a first time permanent process.  New connections on developer sites involve laying new mains and connecting them to the existing network.  Cappagh pressure tests all its newly laid infrastructure prior to final connections being made.  The scope of work has grown throughout the initial 5 year period to include on and off site new services, meter exchanges, stopcock replacements and first time backfill and permanent reinstatement to excavations undertaken by Portsmouth Water’s Network teams.

The contract was mobilised in two weeks whilst a large TUPE transfer event was managed successfully by Cappagh.  The company supplied new vans, plant and equipment to ensure a seamless transfer of the service from the outgoing contractor, as well as introducing new initiatives and policies not previously used on the contract.  These included a 5 point mandatory PPE policy, drug and alcohol testing, health and wellbeing monitoring, behavioural safety training and downloadable Cat4 and signal generators.  In addition, the company’s own work and photo management system, “SWIMS”, is being used effectively to record work and manage quality.

The contract is set-up to encourage significant collaboration and innovation.  Shared ideas, resources, training and procurement opportunities are being explored.

Each year of the contract Cappagh expects to replace 23Km of water mains of varying diameters and 2,200 services, install 5,000 meters, undertake nearly 900 new connections, deliver 3 Km of mains extensions and permanently reinstate 8,000 excavations.

We employ extensive use of no-dig techniques to minimise interruptions to customers’ supplies when carrying out mains renewals.  These include slip-lining, pipe bursting and horizontal directional drilling.  Cappagh has made use of temporary above ground riders and line-stopping and under-pressure drilling and tapping to further prevent mains shut-offs.

Butt fusion welding and electro fusion is used to permanently joint HPPE plastic pipes.