Ofwat has awarded a contract for Innovation Fund AMP8 delivery partners 2025-30 worth an estimated £18.4 million (excluding VAT).
The water sector regulator went out to tender to appoint delivery partners to support Ofwat in delivering the Innovation Fund and aspects of the Water Efficiency Fund during the AMP 8 investment period running from April 2025 to March 2030.
The contract covers two specific aspects of the continuation of the existing Innovation Fund which was established in 2020 and the introduction of a new Water Efficiency Fund (WEF):
i. the Water Efficiency Lab (WEL) – an annual competition similar to the Innovation Fund but focused solely on water efficiency
ii. the evaluation of the Water Efficiency Campaign (WEC), the other part of the two components that make up the WEF.
Ofwat was looking for delivery partner support in three distinct but linked areas:
Lot 1: Core Innovation Fund and WEL delivery
- Water Breakthrough Challenge rounds 6-7
- Water Discovery Challenge round 2
- Water Efficiency Lab rounds 1-2
- Collaborative Challenge programme
- Monitoring of live projects and project closedown
- Programme governance
- Marketing and communications
- Data collection to inform AMP 8 evaluation
Lot 2: Implementation programme
The appointed supplier and Ofwat will work closely together with the sector to determine what an effective implementation programme could look like. The programme will focus on accelerating the adoption and scaling of innovations awarded funding through the Ofwat Innovation Fund but also to support innovation implementation more generally across the sector.
Scope of work also covers co-design and delivery of new programme to support the acceleration of adoption and scaling of innovations across sector. Timetable to be agreed with the supplier in line with the capacity of the sector to engage in design of the programme, but work is expected to start in 2025.
Lot 3: Evaluation
- AMP 7 Evaluation: Delivery of an impact and Value for Money (VfM) evaluation programme before the end of 2027
- Delivery and coordination of AMP 8 evaluation activity.
Lot 1: Core Innovation Fund and WEL delivery has been awarded to Nesta, one of seven organisations in the bidding for the work, with an initial estimated total value of £14.5 million.
Lot 2: Implementation programme has been awarded to Isle, one of seven organisations in the bidding for the work, with an initial estimated total value of £1.9 million.
Lot 3: Evaluation has been awarded to ICF Consulting Services Ltd, one of fourteen organisations who bid for the work, with an initial estimated total value of £2 million.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.