Severn Trent: Rapid Mobilisation in Action

Ompton Emergency UV Project

Background

Severn Trent is one of Britain’ largest water companies, providing over eight million people with drinking water every day  across the Midlands, from the outskirts of Sheffield, down to Bristol, and into north and mid-Wales.

In late December 2023, one of Severn Trent’s sites, Ompton, had been out of service for a number of weeks. The site required a new UV rig to support the production of clean drinking water and alleviate pressure on neighbouring facilities.

Maintaining a high standard of water quality was critical to enabling Severn Trent to retain their exceptional regulatory standards. Being the only water company with the highest regulatory rating for water quality was a proud achievement and further added to the pressure to operationalise Ompton by January 31, 2024.

Challenges and Opportunities

The Ompton UV project faced two main challenges: an ambitious timeline of just four weeks and the need for close coordination between multiple stakeholders. Delivering the project required strong collaboration between the utility’s operations, commissioning, and project management teams, as well as their main contractor and subcontractors.

However, there was a history of strained relationships between some of these parties. Differences in working styles and communication breakdowns had created friction when working together on another batch of UV projects which took over three years to complete. Overcoming this tension and fostering effective teamwork was critical to meeting the tight deadline.

What VISION Did

VISION was engaged to work through the issues and  mobilise the project, ensuring it progressed smoothly within the given timeframe. The VISION team began by aligning with the utility’s leadership to define success—setting a clear, tangible goal: making Ompton operational and capable of pumping at least 20 million litres of drinking water per day.

To drive progress, VISION focused on engaging the key players essential to delivering the project. By building strong relationships and fostering trust, the team quickly identified priority areas. Daily meetings shifted from program-based discussions to  sessions where immediate concerns were addressed and resolved efficiently. VISION also worked to instill a culture of ambition, setting a high-energy tone for achieving ambitious targets.

Early on, VISION identified stakeholder misalignment as a major source of inefficiency. Unclear expectations, inconsistent communication, and overlapping roles were creating friction and causing delays. VISION set about clarifying responsibilities and streamlining decision-making. The team implemented a structured communication approach that focused on:

• Clear ownership of tasks
• Defined deadlines and deliverables
• Purpose-driven meeting agendas and outcomes

By facilitating discussions and proactively addressing concerns, VISION helped  align priorities and ensure all voices were heard. The team also encouraged a forward-looking mindset, steering the focus away from past issues and toward shared goals.

One of VISION’s key strategies was empowering on-the-ground leaders to drive progress. By delegating decision-making authority to site-level personnel and removing bottlenecks,  the team was able to maintain momentum. VISION also worked to anticipate potential challenges, resolving them quickly to prevent escalation.

The Results

Despite the tight timeline and initial challenges, the project was successfully completed on January 31, 2024. Ompton became fully operational, delivering 20 million litres of drinking water per day, as planned.  This required designing and installing a UV rig from another site, integrating new pipework, and commissioning the facility—all within just four weeks. 

The project’s success was a significant milestone for all stakeholders involved and ensured continued trust in Severn Trent’s high quality standards. For the contractor, the project demonstrated their ability to deliver under challenging conditions, helping to rebuild confidence and strengthen relationships.

VISION’s role in navigating  friction between stakeholders driving collaboration  in Ompton and other projects was highlighted by one of Severn Trent’s leaders:

“Severn Trent had some highly complex water treatment capital delivery projects with a number of tight programmes where failure to meet these deadlines was not an option. VISION were diligent, hard-working, empowering and truly committed to making my goals a reality. The practice of Commitment based Management, through interviewing key individuals to get under the skin of the issue, understanding the mood of the project, enabling sharing of assessments and driving clearer meeting management and people-interfaces through a resolver role makes a huge difference and is a standout against other consultant management support. I am most satisfied with the calibre of people within Vision, and their drive to get into the detail of key people’s moods and then continuously coaching to develop and ensure project success. The outcomes were clear, with multiple projects having critical issues unlocked in a period of weeks, where positions had become entranced and stagnated for months. We met our deadlines and commitments for all projects reviewed by VISION.”

Through proactive problem-solving, strong relationship-building, and a focus on clear communication, VISION’s rapid mobilisation programme contributed to the timely and successful delivery of the Ompton UV project, safeguarding water quality and service for customers.