The UK water industry is under increasing pressure to deliver infrastructure faster, more safely, and with greater long-term performance confidence. With industry frameworks such as AMP8, a structured approach for water companies to plan and execute investments over a 5-year period, including the need for tighter environmental targets, increasing regulatory scrutiny, and complex programmes being rolled out, the need for bespoke solutions is being challenged.
Standardisation is becoming one of the more common and most important delivery strategies across the industry, helping reduce project risk, improve quality, and streamline delivery and installation.
This article discusses standardisation, how it’s benefiting the industry, and how Dutypoint is supporting the need for standardisation.
What Standardisation Really Means
Across the water industry, teams are facing the same challenge: delivering more assets faster, with less risk. This is why standardisation is becoming the more reliable route for utilities and framework delivery partners. Standardisation reduces the need for bespoke one-off units by adopting regulation-approved, repeatable asset designs that can be deployed across multiple sites with minimal redesign requirements, helping reduce project risk, improve quality control, and ensure whole-life consistency.
Key benefits of standardisation include:
- Faster programme time: By using repeatable designs, this reduces the early-stage design and review period, helping projects move quickly from specification to delivery, and reducing overall project time.
- Reduced project risk: Standardised solutions are designed and built based on known challenges and requirements, helping reduce uncertainty around installation requirements and commissioning outcomes.
- Improved cost certainty: Bespoke units can be difficult to price accurately due to design variation and scope changes, whereas standardised units reduce unknowns, helping improve forecasting and procurement planning across multi-site programmes.
- Simplified installation and site coordination: Standardised units are designed with simple installation in mind. Standard layouts and consistent connection points can mean smoother coordination and installation across sites, as well as more efficient commissioning processes.
Standardisation in Action: The Better Rivers Programme
No one wants to see sewage, and with climate change, a growing population and new developments across the UK, sewer systems are being overloaded and spilling into rivers and the sea. To tackle this, United Utilities has introduced the Better Rivers programme.
The Better Rivers programme is a commitment to making the step change people want to see, building on the improvements and investments already made to change how wastewater is treated in the Northwest and reduce the number of spills from storm overflows.
In 2025, the project reduced overspills by 39% and aims to increase this to 60% by 2030, with an investment of over £3 billion, which will, in turn, improve more than 300 miles of river, helping reduce storm overspill and improve water quality.
Dutypoint’s involvement in the Better Rivers Programme
Dutypoint have been actively involved in the Better Rivers programme by working alongside United Utilities Project Blueprint team and their framework contractors to support the development of standardised modular solutions that meet the programme’s objectives, deliverable at speed and scale.
Through this collaboration, we’ve been awarded two frameworks which form part of the Better Rivers programme:
- Standardised Packaged Vertical Pumping Stations
- Standardised Detention Tanks
This is a fantastic development for the Dutypoint team, demonstrating our ongoing work in supporting the water industry with innovative product development.
“By working with utilities and their framework contractors to create preapproved high-performance designs, we’re enabling faster delivery, safer builds, and more consistent operational performance.” Tom Roberston, Water Industry Manager at Dutypoint.
Supporting Site Efficiency Through DfMA
Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) is being increasingly adopted across AMP programmes due to its ability to support faster, safer installation and reduce on-site complexity.
At Dutypoint, our DfMA capability allows us to design, build, and factory-test an array of our standardised solutions, including our offsite builds at our Headquarters in Gloucester, before they are delivered and installed on site, providing greater control over quality and consistency.
Key advantages of DfMA include:
- Factor-assembled and tested systems before delivery
- Reduced on-site interfaces and installation time
- Improved quality control
- Lower site risk and simplified commissioning
- Repeatable quality across multi-site projects
Dutypoint and Standardisation
Standardisation isn’t limited to pumping stations and stormwater infrastructure. In clean water and wastewater environments, wash water and network boosting is another area where contractors benefit from packaged, repeatable solutions.
Not only have we been awarded frameworks for our standardised vertical pumping station and detention tanks, but we also have our standardised wash water booster sets. This solution provides a compact, cost-effective system for Category 5 backflow prevention and boosting in wash-down applications.
Features include:
- Plug-and-play design, reducing on-site installation time
- Reviewed by the water company HAZOP to ensure ease of maintenance
- Quality and cost-effective design
- Available as a single-pump fixed-speed unit or as a multiple-pump variable-speed unit
Move From Bespoke Builds to Standardisation with Dutypoint
With the water industry moving away from bespoke, site-by-site infrastructure development and towards repeatable, simple-to-install solutions that help deliver more assets faster, with less risk, standardised units are the way forward.
Through collaboration with water companies and contractors, we’re proud to continue to support this transition with our innovative, efficient and reliable standardised solutions.
Fill out an enquiry form to see how our solutions can support your upcoming projects, or call our team on 01452 300110 to learn more.
