Northumbrian Water Group took home two national awards on Tuesday night.
The awards were presented at the Water Industry Achievement Awards 2017, which took place in Birmingham.
The water company scooped the awards for ‘Water Resource Project of the Year’ and, for the third year running, the ‘Sustainable Drainage and Flood Management Initiative of the Year’.
Heidi Mottram, Chief Executive Officer at Northumbrian Water Group, said: “I am really delighted and immensely proud of these awards and the customer and environmental benefits they represent. To pick up two awards, and be shortlisted seven times is a great achievement for everyone involved.
“What is even more special, is that this is the third year in a row we have won the Sustainable Drainage and Flood Management Initiative award. It is testament to the hard work we are doing to reduce the risk of flooding to our customers, by using and developing sustainable methods and working collaboratively, as we have done on the Brunton Park scheme with the Environment Agency and Newcastle City Council.
“Much of our work is driving standards and quality, not only for our own customers, but for those across the UK.”
Northumbrian Water Group’s first award of the evening was the Sustainable Drainage and Flood Management Initiative award for their flood alleviation scheme at Brunton Park, Newcastle.
Northumbrian Water, the Environment Agency and Newcastle City Council, began the £7 million joint flood reduction scheme in October 2014. It was the first time in the UK that a water company has done construction work on behalf of the Environment Agency.
The scheme reduces the risk of flooding to more than 100 properties from three sources of flooding in Brunton Park were from the water company’s surface and foul sewer networks and from the River Ouseburn.
Work involved installing 380 metres of new river channel to divert the Ouseburn from the area that suffers from flooding; using the current section of Ouseburn river channel and a new storage basin to drain and store more than seven million litres of surface water; constructing 650 metres of flood defences (walls and earth embankment) and installing two kilometres of new sewer pipe and a new storage tank, which holds up to 450,000 litres of storm sewage.
The second award of the evening was for the water company’s Every Drop Counts campaign which helps its customers save water, energy and money. The campaign has been running since 2014 and through home audits they are able to identify opportunities to install a range of devices, including dual flush mechanisms for toilets and aerated shower heads, helping to save water and save customers money.
The campaign reflects Northumbrian Water Group's own work to maximise efficiency by constantly and proactively monitoring and managing its network ensuring the needs of customers, communities and the environment are met.
Northumbrian Water Group was also shortlisted in other categories including: community project of the year, customer satisfaction initiative of the year, data project of the year, most innovative use of an existing technology of the year and team of the year. The water company had two entries shortlisted in the partnership of the year category.