Project: HARP Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme

This proposal requests support to deploy the Project Health Control (PHC) Service as a governance-first Risk Management layer for the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP) - a major United Utilities infrastructure investment protecting long-term water security in North West England.

HARP targets renewal of the highest-risk tunnel sections along an approximately 110 km aqueduct corridor, reducing the probability of unplanned failures while maintaining best value for customers under the Ofwat Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) model.

The PHC Service strengthens risk ownership, action closure discipline, interface control, and evidence-based reporting. Outputs are structured so they can be resolved cleanly into the programme’s formal risk register and reporting standards, improving decision confidence without introducing unnecessary overhead.

In practical terms, this is a targeted governance investment designed to protect delivery momentum, improve reporting clarity, and ensure risk controls remain live as the programme progresses toward main construction readiness.

HARP Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme is a long-duration renewal programme intended to protect strategic raw water transfer for approximately 2.5 million customers in the North West of England.

The programme is currently in a mobilisation and definition stage, with early effort focused on investigations, detailed design progression, governance setup, and stakeholder engagement to build confidence in scope, ground assumptions, and delivery controls ahead of a main construction start in 2026.

Delivery is led by Cascade Infrastructure (a Strabag and Equitix partnership), supported by Arup for detailed design, and Turner & Townsend acting as Independent Technical Adviser for assurance. The programme scale is reported at around GBP 3bn and is expected to support a major supply chain and a peak workforce in the region of 1,200.

HARP’s core intent is to replace the most critical sections in a controlled, evidence-backed sequence, delivering long-term operational confidence while minimising disruption through predominantly underground works.

The HARP programme brings together a multi-organisation delivery structure with clear interfaces between owner, delivery partner, designers, and independent assurance functions. The key parties are summarised below.

• Programme Owner - United Utilities
  Overall accountability for strategic outcomes, regulatory compliance, customer value, and operational performance requirements.
• Delivery Partner - Cascade Infrastructure (Strabag + Equitix)
  Responsible for integrated delivery leadership and coordination across construction planning, logistics, and delivery readiness.
• Detailed Design - Arup
  Engineering design development and technical support aligned to investigations, constructability, and quality requirements.
• Independent Technical Adviser - Turner & Townsend
  Independent technical assurance role supporting confidence, governance credibility, and evidence-based oversight.
• Regulatory and Stakeholder Environment - Ofwat, local authorities, communities, environmental stakeholders
  Interfaces covering permits, stakeholder alignment, environmental compliance, and public confidence.
• Contractors, suppliers, and specialist service providers
  Investigation teams, tunnelling specialists, construction supply chain, safety systems, and supporting services.
• PHC Governance & Reporting Team (Order Efficiency / PHC Service)
  Structured risk control, evidence output discipline, action tracking, and reporting alignment into existing programme systems.

The expected outcomes of deploying PHC Service support into HARP are practical and measurable: improved control of risk exposure, better decision confidence, stronger action closure, and a repeatable governance rhythm aligned to the programme’s formal reporting standards.

Near-term outcomes (0-3 months)

• A clear governance and reporting cadence aligned to existing programme controls and assurance expectations.
• A live baseline risk and readiness view, structured for ownership and action closure discipline.
• A stakeholder map and engagement pathway to support delivery readiness and confidence.
• Early evidence outputs that strengthen assurance and prevent execution drift as mobilisation accelerates.

Medium-term outcomes (3-12 months)

• Improved delivery confidence through controlled scope, better interface clarity, and disciplined closure of risk actions.
• Stronger programme readiness for enabling works and phased infrastructure rollout toward the 2026 start.
• Repeatable evidence packs supporting value-for-money confidence, governance transparency, and auditability.

Longer-term outcomes (12+ months)

• Sustained reduction of failure risk through robust governance applied consistently across the delivery lifecycle.
• Improved assurance confidence and decision traceability across design, construction, and stakeholder interfaces.
• A proven governance-first model supporting long-duration delivery with customer-value protection and credible reporting.

Category	Description	Total Cost
IT Services and Tooling	Filemaker, Mindmanager, Conferencing, Development Apps (one off contribution)	£1,900
PHC Start Pack - Hardware (*1)	A set of 5 Single Board Computers, Monitor and UPS	£1,442
PHC 7-Day Review (*2)	PHC Service for Pre-start Review (7 days)	£2,118
PHC Setup (*2)	PHC Service during 2-month Setup Phase	£9,536
PHC Continuation (*2)	PHC Service during 3-month Continuation Phase	£15,634
Miscellaneous	Travel, training, insurance, and other variable costs	£1,000
		£31,629

(*1) Hardware Breakdown

Category	Description	Total Cost
Single Board Computer Set x5	Raspberry Pi 500, Mouse, hdmi cable, power cable)	£722
Monitor x5	Mini-Monitor (for RP500)	£480
Site UPS	Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for site computers.	£240
		£1,442

(*2) PHC People Costs [Review=M1, Setup=M2,3, Continuation=M4,5,6]

Role	People	Hourly Rate	M1	M2	M3	M4	M5	M6	Total (GBP)
PHC Strategist	David Winter	£138.60	10	8	8	8	8	8	£6,930
PHC Analyst	Abubakr Harakat	£92.40	5	16	16	16	16	16	£7,584
PHC Admin	Victor Williams	£53.9	5	24	24	24	24	24	£6,738
PHC Trainee	[name1] [name2] [name3]	£18.48	0	48	48	72	72	72	£5.766
Project People	Client Rep	£92.40	0	0	0	0	0	0	£0
Total			£2,118	£4,768	£4,768	£5,211	£5,211	£5,211	£27,287

Footnote - People Costs and PICS Eligibility: The people-related costs shown above relate to funded governance, delivery, leadership, and trainee roles agreed at the outset of the project. These paid hours are not eligible for PICS (Pro Bono Social Impact Credits). PICS applies only to unpaid or underpaid service contributed outside funded roles. PHC Service maintains a clear, auditable separation between funded work and any pro-bono contribution, preventing double recognition while ensuring transparency to funders.

Appendix Highlights:

• Community Share Protocol: 10% allocation recognising grassroots contributors.
• PHC Share-Out Mechanism: Structured redistribution of project value to consultants and humanitarian causes.
• PHC Service Cost Model: Tiered accessibility ensuring humanitarian affordability.
• Trainee Integration Pathway: Local capacity building via live project experience.
• Consultant Gallery: Recognition of all certified PHC participants via PHC Portal listings.

• The Story of PHC
• Project Gap Analysis
• Rate Calculator (xlsx)
• Rate Calculator - 7-Day Review
• Rate Calculator - Setup Phase
• Rate Calculator - Continuation Phase
• Approach to Project