The UK’s premier water industry event
19 – 20 November 2019
Hilton Tower Bridge, London
The UK’s premier water industry event
Innovation is a core enabler for customer service, resilience, affordability and vulnerability. To help you deliver on your innovation commitments and step-up to the challenge, Future of Utilities: Water 2019 has a jam-packed programme filled with new ideas, top-level speakers and sessions you won’t find anywhere else.
Keynote Speakers
Peter Simpson
Chief Executive Officer
Anglian Water
Peter has been Chief Executive of Anglian Water Group since October 2013, and was previously MD of Anglian Water from January 2010, and Chief Operating Officer from 2004.
He will be speaking on how to put your workforce front and centre, focusing on why diversity fuels innovation acroos an organisation, and how human and robotic inputs complement each other. He will also be joining our leaders’ forum to discuss how PR19 will impact the industry.
Chris Jones
Chief Executive Officer
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Glas Cymru in September 2013, Chris was previously Finance Director of Glas Cymru from April 2000 and of Welsh Water from May 2001.
Chris will be speaking on how to find the sweet spot between long-term investment and affordability, how to sustain a low cost-to-serve approach whilst investing more, and leveraging new technologies to innovate to meet PR19 priorities. He will also be joining our leaders’ forum to discuss how PR19 will impact the industry.
Keynote Speakers
Peter Simpson
Chief Executive Officer
Anglian Water
Peter has been Chief Executive of Anglian Water Group since October 2013, and was previously MD of Anglian Water from January 2010, and Chief Operating Officer from 2004.
Join him to learn the view from the top on how to put your workforce front and centre, why diversity fuels innovation across an organisation, and how human and robotic inputs complement each other. He will also be joining our leaders’ forum to discuss how PR19 will impact the industry.
Chris Jones
Chief Executive Officer
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Glas Cymru in September 2013, Chris was previously Finance Director of Glas Cymru from April 2000 and of Welsh Water from May 2001.
Finding the sweet spot between long-term investment and affordability is always a balance. Join Chris as he shares what Dwr Cymru has learnt from building reserves with financing efficiency savings to benefit its customers. He’ll be exploring how to sustain a low cost-to-serve approach whilst investing more, and leveraging new technologies to innovate to meet PR19 priorities. He will also be joining our leaders’ forum to discuss how PR19 will impact the industry.
Speakers
Chris Jones
Chief Executive Officer, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
Peter Simpson
Chief Executive Officer, Anglian Water
David Black
Senior Director, Water 2020, Ofwat
Nigel Watson
Chief Information Officer, Northumbrian Water Group
Jerry White
Chief Information Officer, Operations, Thames Digital, Thames Water
Claire Sharp
Customer Director, Northumbrian Water
James Richardson
Chief Economist, National Infrastructure Commission
Bob Taylor
Chief Executive Officer, Portsmouth Water
Innovation Hub
At Future of Utilities: Water this year, the focus is on innovation. In order to meet the challenges set for the industry by Ofwat, and to deliver benefits to customers, water executives need to step-up and companies need to embed innovation at their core. Get serious about driving innovation in water and join your peers at the Innovation Hub in November.
The Innovation Festival: an after-party debrief
A cleaner, greener way to tackle urban drainage
Mapping lakes and riverbeds: an eco-friendly solution to
environmental standards
Nigel Watson, Group Chief Information Officer, Northumbrian Water Group
Lorna Davis, Co-Founder, SuDsPlanter
Joost Den Haan, Co-Founder, PlanBlue
Agenda
- All Topics
Day 1 Tuesday, 19 November 2019
Day 2 Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Welcome address and chair's opening remarks
The regulatory outlook
Keynote address
A view from Ofwat: expectations and priorities across AMP7, PR24 and beyond
• Reflecting on the PR19 process
• What can companies do to meet expectations following PR19?
• How is Ofwat incentivising innovation?
• How might PR19 methodologies impact ODI approaches going into AMP7?
• Should the industry anticipate an equally rigorous approach to PR24?
David Black
Senior Director, Water 2020 , Ofwat
Stepping up to the innovation challenge
Keynote address
Locating the sweet spot between long-term investment and affordability
- How can water companies sustain a low-cost-to-serve approach whilst investing more?
- Adapting the mind-set: responding to immediate challenges with an eye on the long-term
- Innovating to meet PR19 priorities: leveraging new technology and fresh thinking to cut costs
- Sustaining a customer-centric approach: ensuring customer consent on big-ticket spending
Chris Jones
Chief Executive Officer , Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
Keynote address
A people-driven transformation: putting your workforce front and centre
- Sourcing innovation internally: encouraging the frontline workforce to articulate their ideas
- Why is greater diversity across an organisation important in fuelling innovation?
- With the advent of AI, how can human and robotic inputs complement each other?
Peter Simpson
Chief Executive Officer , Anglian Water
Leaders’ Forum
Preparing for a brave new world: the post PR19 outlook
- Innovation, customers, cost-cutting and resilience: how can the industry meet PR19 promises?
- Understanding what customers want: how can water become a customer-centric industry?
- Does water need to address cultural challenges before implementing new tech?
- Is competition or collaboration the ultimate way to motivate effective innovation?
- What are the limitations to collaboration under the current system?
- How will the new approach of PR19 impact the industry?
- How will a reduced WACC change the culture and management of water companies?
Chris Jones
Chief Executive Officer , Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
Peter Simpson
Chief Executive Officer , Anglian Water
Bob Taylor
Chief Executive Officer , Portsmouth Water
Optimising assets in the 21st century | Striving for customer excellence
Case study | Portsmouth Water
Leveraging customer engagement and tech to drastically reduce leakage
Cutting leakage rates remain a huge priority for WASCs and WOCs alike as the sector transitions into AMP7. In this session, Bob Taylor will explore how Portsmouth Water’s relatively low-cost approach to this thorny issue has been a ground-breaking success. Through a mixture of underground sensor technology and public engagement to identify leaks faster, the company has seen a 40% reduction since 2015.
Bob Taylor
Chief Executive Officer , Portsmouth Water
Panel discussion
Managing assets in the digital water era
- The power of predictive analytics: proactively monitoring the network to prevent incidents before they happen
- Driving asset efficiency: to what extent can the capacity of assets improve without physically changing?
- Extending asset-life with new technologies: what are the options?
- Building a picture of your assets: what is digital twinning?
- Has ‘digital water’ encouraged more maintenance of existing assets or building from scratch?
- Where is partnering and collaboration critical?
Bob Taylor
Chief Executive Officer , Portsmouth Water
Nigel Watson
Chief Information Officer , Northumbrian Water Group
David Smith
Director of Asset Management , Bristol Water
Ivan Stoianov
Senior Lecturer in Water Systems Engineering , Imperial College London
Defining a fantastic customer experience in water
- How can water companies better identify what their customers want?
- Going local: why is reflecting the regional priorities in your customer service so critical?
- What is the role of customer segmentation in improving services?
- Implementing real-time response to challenges: meeting the modern customer expectations of service
- Ensuring customers walk away satisfied: designing successful feedback mechanisms from customers and the frontline
Claire Sharp
Customer Director , Northumbrian Water
Becoming a customer native: speaking the language of customer-centricity
- What does customer-centricity mean in practice?
- Why should water seek to become more customer centric?
- How do you demonstrate to customers that they are your top priority?
- Reviewing the annual billing process: can the industry design a more customer-friendly approach?
- Moving away from ‘them vs. us’ language: complaints handling 101
Steve George
Customer Services Director , South East Water
Data-driven decision making for improved incident response | Insight-driven customer experience
Case study | South East Water
Assessing the impact of smart networks when it matters most
Richard Sands
Head of Asset Management , South East Water
Reacting to extreme weather occurrences: perfecting the real-time response
- Predicting supply and demand with closer accuracy: preparing for a more uncertain future
- Ensuring you have capacity for a quick real-time response
- Encouraging wider engagement to help identify leaks faster
- Learnings from Beast from the East and the heatwave: is the industry ready?
Jason Tucker
Director of Strategic Delivery & Commercial , Anglian Water
Panel discussion
Keeping pace with the customer revolution
- What does the ‘customer revolution’ mean for water?
- With customer preferences and behaviours evolving so rapidly, what are the key challenges when it comes to effective communication?
- Getting the digital strategy right: what are customers expecting when they google your name?
- Speed, convenience or engagement: what’s the secret to an amazing digital customer experience?
- What do current customer experience offerings lack and is new tech the best solution?
- Which communication tools should water companies have a handle on, and where should they be looking to next?
- Raising the benchmark: what are the benefits to looking outside of your own industry?
- Taking the right advice and implementing the right tech: what can the industry learn from third parties?
Oliver Driscoll
Head of Wholesale Management , Business Stream
Progressing toward a smarter water industry | The keys to customer engagement
Panel discussion
Systems thinking: joining up the dots for a connected, intelligent infrastructure
- What does ‘systems thinking’ mean for water?
- How can companies leverage existing data to its full potential?
- What are the best ways to extract data out of silos?
- How can you effectively utilise data-driven predictive analytics for meaningful insights?
- Linking up sensors, communication channels and data centres to create a truly ‘smart infrastructure’
- The coming of 5G: how vital will this be in creating a smarter, connected infrastructure?
- A case for legacy overhaul: are current IT infrastructures fit for purpose?
- How can collaboration and third parties help to inform strategic decision making?
Jerry White
Chief Information Officer, Operations, Thames Digital , Thames Water
Tom Kelly
Wholesale Services Director , SES Water
Panel discussion
Outlining a strategy for sustained engagement
- What are the existing engagement strategies and how could they improve?
- How did the PR19 customer consultation impact customer engagement approaches?
- What lessons can be learnt from the ‘right to flush’ campaign when it comes to collaboration?
- If price doesn’t incentivise lower consumption, is environmentalism a better strategy?
- To what extent will customers lack awareness of consumption challenges as long as water goes unmetered?
- Establishing a culture of customer participation: select panels, site visits and local community engagement
- Is there a case for a renewed use of behavioural economics and nudging to reduce consumption patterns?
- Facing vulnerable customer challenges head on: does responsibility fall solely on industry shoulders?
Tony Smith
Chief Executive Officer , Consumer Council for Water
Alun Shurmer
Director of Customer Strategy & Communications , Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
Rachel Dyson
Behavioural Change Programme Manager , Anglian Water
The road to trust and legitimacy
Defining and implementing a social contract for water
- What is the social contract in the context of water?
- Building a cohesive national framework with regionalised priorities: what are the challenges?
- Should water companies wait for the regulator or should they act themselves?
- How will a social contract approach help to meet PR19 and environmental priorities?
Alex Plant
Regulation Director , Anglian Water
Chair’s closing remarks and drinks reception
Chair’s opening remarks
Addressing the regulation challenge
What can we learn from past approaches to water regulation?
Nick Fincham
Strategy and Regulation Director , Thames Water
Keynote address
Reviewing economic regulation in utilities: the shape of water regulation
- How might the cross-utility assessment of regulation be set to impact water specifically?
- Does current economic regulation prepare water companies for long-term challenges?
- Does the existing 5-year price review cycle incentivise the right behaviours?
- What are the mutual challenges facing network industries?
- Given the similar set of challenges for network industries, might regulatory integration occur?
James Richardson
Chief Economist , National Infrastructure Commission
Delivering on PR19 promises
Panel discussion
Challenging the status quo: the who, where and how of innovating
- What are the current barriers preventing greater cost-efficiency and innovation?
- Taking the lead from regulation: is it wise to make risky choices without explicit consent?
- How could cross-industry technology trailing and better standardisation cut costs?
- Is it a question of revolutionising existing practices or making incremental changes?
- Should stakeholders be involved to help drive more innovation or is it an internal process?
- How can companies take a new supply-chain approach without risking inflated costs?
- Schmoozing start-ups: what are the risks and benefits involved working with new suppliers?
- DPC vs. single tender: could a fresh approach to procurement drive change?
Mel Karam
Chief Executive Officer , Bristol Water
Nick Fincham
Strategy and Regulation Director , Thames Water
The innovation zone
Case study | Northumbrian Water Group
The Innovation Festival: an after-party debrief
- Post-Innovation Festival: what interesting connections and collaborations have been made?
- What makes the Innovation Festival so successful at drawing out new ideas?
- How can water companies become more closely involved with the festival?
- What’s the benefit to having conversations with out-of-industry players?
Nigel Watson
Chief Information Officer , Northumbrian Water Group
Demo | SuDsPlanter
A cleaner, greener way to tackle urban drainage
SuDsPlanter provide local communities with solutions to their urban drainage challenges in an environmentally sustainable way. The SuDsPlanter is a ‘Sustainable Drainage System’, designed to manage rainwater run-off from domestic, commercial and industrial roofs. It reduces the risk of flooding in the sewer network and improves water quality to our streams and rivers, creating a healthier, more sustainable environment. Lorna Davis will discuss how SuDsPlanter’s experience demonstrates the vital role small-scale suppliers can play in creating a more environmentally focused and locally engaged water industry.
Lorna Davis
Co-Founder , SuDsPlanter
Demo | PlanBlue
Mapping lakes and riverbeds: an eco-friendly solution to environmental standards
PlanBlue developed an underwater camera that can scan the floor of river and lakebeds. This technology provides the opportunity to ensure that water bodies are healthy, home to a rich bio-diversity and environmentally up to scratch. As an exciting new start-up, PlanBlue is a fantastic example of the kind of partnerships water companies can make to drive innovation and introduce new approaches.
Joost Den Haan
Co-Founder , PlanBlue
A strategic vision for a sustainable economy
Panel discussion
The role of water in the circular economy
- What does the ‘circular economy’ mean and how does it relate to water?
- What is the role of sustainable accounting and catchment management in a circular economy?
- What opportunities are there for a new market from chemical extraction in wastewater?
- Is there a sufficient level of cost-effective technology that could drive the growth of a market?
- What can be learnt from the Netherlands model of a circular economy digital marketplace?
- How can learnings from the bio-resource market apply to the wider circular economy market?
Dan Green
Head of Innovation & Sustainability , Wessex Water
Gordon Rogers
Head of Sustainability , Yorkshire Water
The future of the water market with a more interventionist government
Keynote address
Taking the temperature on the nationalisation debate: Private? State run? Mutual?
- The Labour Party position: where does it now stand?
- How much support is there for a mutualisation model across the House?
- How should water companies respond to the concerns of the public and politicians?
- Would a mutualisation model deliver fair value to exiting shareholders?
- Could waning public support for water renationalisation cause labour to reassess their policy?
Gareth Thomas
MP - Harrow West , Labour Party
Taking a long-term view on the water resource challenge
Case Study | Water Resources in the South East
Planning for a more resilient future: the secret to successful regional integration
- Has WRSE proved a successful model in encouraging regional long-term resilience planning?
- What are the challenges to regional agreement and how do you balance competing priorities?
- How has input from local stakeholders impacted the process and outcome?
- What are the benefits to giving regional committees more teeth and what are the challenges?
Trevor Bishop
Organisational Development Director , Water Resources South East
Keynote address
Exploring the Water Industry National Environment Plan
- How has the WINEP improved environmental standards so far?
- How will WINEP be impacting environmental standards and ODIs during AMP7?
- Should the industry anticipate regulatory collaboration when it comes to enforcing standards?
Anne Dacey
Deputy Director of Integrated Water Planning , Environment Agency
Chair’s closing remarks and end of conference
REASONS TO ATTEND
Must-See Sessions
“Some lively debates and a great opportunity to connect with people in the Water Industry to discuss the latest topics and challenges.”
Chief Executive, Wave
PARTNER WITH US
“Working with MarketforceLive has enabled us to meet the right people, to make the right contacts, and to do that in an environment that’s conducive to building long-term relationships.” AMT-Sybex
Our attendees tell us their aim is to make meaningful connections with solutions providers. With this in mind, we have created a range of sponsorship opportunities that can help you raise your profile and reach the right people.
Sponsors
Who Attends
Group Discounts
Water Company Rate
- Save 25% on tickets when booking in a group of 5+
£695- £521.25
Water Company Rate
- Save 15% on tickets when booking in a group of 3+
£695- £590.75
Standard Rate
- Save 10% on tickets when booking in a group of 3+
£1,295- £1,165.50
Tickets
All tickets include:
2 day conference pass, lunch, refreshments and a drinks reception.
Standard
save £200 Early Bird Until 13 September
£1,295.00 + VAT
Full Price £1,495.00 + VAT
Water Companies Rate*
save £300 Early Bird Until 26 July
£695.00 + VAT
Full Price £995.00 + VAT