Steve Morris, Managing Director at wastewater technology specialist HUBER UK looks forward to the start of AMP8 on 1^st April and says there is a real appetite and enthusiasm in the water companies and their supply chain partners alike to start work on the water industry’s biggest-ever investment programme.

Steve Morris: With the Final Determinations now published and the knowledge that six companies are asking for them to be redetermined by the Competition and Markets Authority, we now have a much clearer picture of the AMP8 landscape.

With less than a month to go to the start of AMP8, it’s useful to take a look at the common challenges the water companies are facing – not forgetting that these are equally relevant issues for both Scottish Water and NI Water who stand outside the Price Review process in England and Wales.

While the public are generally not aware of the detail of the water companies’ planning processes, they’re certainly aware of how the industry needs to improve, with stormwater discharges high on the agenda.

At the moment we don’t know quite how AMP8 will look but it will probably involve more change than everything that has happened in the last 20 years.

In my view, there is quite a lot of negative talk swirling round the sector at the moment but it’s important not to see the future through that particular prism. Across the UK there is a real appetite and enthusiasm in the water companies and their supply chain partners alike to get started on the myriad of projects which make up the industry’s biggest-ever investment programme to ensure that transformational change is delivered.

Compared to the start of previous AMP investment programmes, the public’s expectation of what the industry needs to deliver has never been higher.

The challenges and opportunities are huge - and there is every reason to expect that that change will be positive and plan accordingly.

So how are the sector going to deliver such a large volume of work in such a relatively short timeframe?

Firstly, enablers like standardisation, common asset standards, agreed WIMES specifications, adoption of best practice and digitisation immediately spring to mind and will be central to delivering both new and established technology at pace, together with controlling costs in AMP8. It would help enormously if we could see greater convergence and standardisation when it comes to technical standards.

Secondly, of course, collaboration and partnerships between the water companies and suppliers will be absolutely key to making all this happen.

Photo: HUBER HQ and manufacturing facility, Germany

As a supplier, we have in turn been proactively planning ahead for AMP8, including a major factory expansion at our HQ in Germany which means we have both the capacity and capability to meet our water company customers’ requirements at speed. We are also well advanced in terms of digitisation, including future-proofing our telemetry solutions, as real-time asset condition data monitoring becomes increasingly important. This means our technology has the ability to deliver enhanced functionality over and above our customers’ existing operational requirements – so we stand ready to deliver as demand requires.

Keeping one step ahead is key. The work we’ve already been doing within the HUBER global Group to tackle the elimination of micropollutants from wastewater through additional and advanced treatment, is just one example. We’ve already gained considerable expertise and reference sites to meet requirement for quaternary treatment in Europe, and North America to tackle the emerging issue of PFAS, forever chemicals, which means that we can hit the ground running as the demand in the UK takes hold.

Major changes on horizon in UK for sludge treatment and disposal

Further down the line, we know major changes are on the horizon in the UK for sludge treatment and disposal in order to meet the Environment Agency strategy for safe and sustainable sludge use. We are working with water companies as they consider technology solutions including advanced thermal conversion processes like pyrolysis and gasification where the first step will require sludge drying.

HUBER sludge drying technology is already widely in use at sites across Europe and the USA, so we are well-placed to respond quickly if the UK landbank availability for disposal is significantly reduced.

As part of our own preparations for AMP8, we will be running a series of webinars on many of the key issues the water sector will be tackling.

Ahead of the start of AMP 8 in April, HUBER Technology are launching a series of live webinars, starting with HUBER Technology’s Storm screen & CSO innovations for AMP 8. If you are interested but unable to join us live, please still register and you will then be sent the presentation after the live event.

In addition, we have a separate programme of Lunch and Learn seminars in place which we offer to UK water companies and their Tier1 partners on an individual basis tailored to their own specific requirements. Whether you want to bring staff from different areas of your organisation who don’t get together in the normal course of events for internal collaboration, or have a more technical briefing on things like standardisation, telemetry, storm overflows, to mention just a few, we can tailor a presentation to meet your own needs which includes plenty of time for a question and answer session.

Our Lunch and Learn sessions are already proving extremely popular – a recent face to face event where staff from other locations were able to join via Teams saw around 150 people taking part.

Even if you’re still at an early stage in your planning processes for AMP8, we are always available and happy to talk.

To sum up, I’m sure I speak for most suppliers in saying that we are all ready to seize the opportunity and work together to deliver the transformational change that’s needed. AMP8 is unlike any other previous investment programme which is opening up new ways of working and collaboration.

Together, we can look forward with confidence that as a sector we can bring about real and lasting improvements for both the environment and for customers.

If you’d like to discuss any of these points in more detail, it would be great to hear from you. Just drop me a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Click here to register for HUBER's CSO webinar on on 26th March 2025.