United Utilities Corporate Responsibility Report 2010

Case studies

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Case Studies

Communicating with our employees To hear what’s going on in our different business areas or find out about news from across UU there are lots of ways we keep employees up-to-date.
The Learning Zone In November 2008 we launched a new leadership competence framework together with 'The Learning Zone', an online portal that supports leaders and managers to drive their own personal development.
Dove Stone Partnership Great fun and great water quality – the work we are doing at Dove Stone reservoir shows that it is possible to have both.
Monster sighting at Davyhulme School Davyhulme school children were in for a big surprise when they came face to face with a sewer monster.
Morecambe Bay Walk More than 200 people put their best foot forward for a great cause this weekend with the big walk across Morecambe Bay.
Dubbs: New life for an old Cumbrian Reservoir Dubbs reservoir, in the Lake District, has been given a new lease of life as a natural haven for wildlife and country lovers as part of a £2m project undertaken following extensive consultation with Natural England, the Environment Agency...
Fleetwood WwTW Fleetwood wastewater treatment works (WwTW) has been one of the first schemes in the UK to use the CL:AIRE (Contaminated Land: Applications In Real Environments) code of practice for management of contaminated land.
Making waste integral to design Waste is one of our biggest environmental impacts in capital investment. As so much of our asset base is underground – pipes, tanks, pumping stations – it is often inevitable that to conduct maintenance or improvements we have to excavate large volumes...
Recycling – Our Future When we excavate works in highways the dug-out stones and soil can be recycled at specialist re-processing plants to form a useable product to re-fill our trenches. So we produce minimal waste and create less demand for finite raw materials such as...
Sludge Balanced Asset Programme Construction is currently under way at Davyhulme Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) on the new Sludge Balanced Asset Programme (SBAP) scheme.
The West East Link Pipeline Work is well under way on the West East Link Main (WELM), a £125million pipeline that will carry water right across the North West from Prescot Reservoirs in Merseyside to Woodgate Hill Reservoirs in Bury.
Anniversary of the Longdendale Trail The Trans Pennine Trail (TPT), part of the European E8 route, is a unique long-distance national recreational link from Liverpool to Hull for walkers, cyclists and - where possible - for horse riders and people with disabilities.
The Heritage Tree This year has seen the final phase in the project to restore some remnant ancient woodland in Macclesfield Forest.
Woodland Planting at Black Moss Reservoirs Students from Burnley College have teamed up with the Bowland Estate team to help create new woodlands at Black Moss Reservoirs, at Barley near Nelson.
Soulthwaite Hillfort On the Thirlmere catchment in the Lake District we have just completed the clear felling of spruce plantations...
Cycling in Thirlmere Cycling has become a lot easier at Thirlmere. The Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) and Cumbria County Council have a duty to improve transport and cycling in particular. They have identified Thirlmere as an ideal location...
Burnley College tree planting Students from Burnley College have teamed up with the Bowland Estate team to help create new woodlands at Black Moss Reservoirs, at Barley near Nelson.
Dove Stone Bridge We manage the infrastructure for public access around our catchments, including fences, gates, stiles, benches and bridges.
Dove Stone United Utilities’ innovative approach to landscape scale catchment management, SCaMP, involves partnership working aimed at addressing water quality risks arising from land management activities or pressures from recreation and access.
Gisburn Forest bike trails A group of volunteer trail builders have been active for 18 months and continue to add new sections of trail. They have developed a strong sense of ownership and pride for the trails, and their hand-built sections continue to attract rave reviews.
Langden Head The wet summer of 2009 provided ideal conditions for the nurse crop at Langden Head in the Forest of Bowland to grow. The stock exclusion fence around the area is living up to its name and as a result there are abundant heather and bilberry plants...
Mooreland restoration in the Peak District National Park As part of our Sustainable Catchment Management Plan phase 1 (SCaMP1), we’re well on our way to revegetating the large areas of bare and eroding peat on our catchment land in the Peak District National Park.
New buildings for Bowland As part of the five-year SCaMP project on United Utilities’ Bowland Estate, we have been busy building nine new farm buildings to provide winter shelter for sheep and cattle.
Call Centre award For the second year running we were rated number one for customer service in the UK utility and telecoms sector in the Call Centre Focus Magazine Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service Awards
You and UU road shows ‘You and UU’ is a portable roadshow, which tours across all our offices and sites providing the opportunity for employees to find out more about the company and the services and benefits for employees.
H & S Contactor Conference Last year we held a successful Health and Safety Conference for our partners and contractors.
Gold & Silver RoSPA Awards Last year, UU Asset Management and Delivery won a Gold Award and UU Operations won a Silver Award for health and safety management from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
Reducing supplier carbon footprint We are committed to tackling climate change. As well as concentrating on working towards cutting our own carbon emissions, we are working with our key suppliers to help them measure, manage and reduce their own emissions and the emissions of their supplie
Boundaries for Biodiversity This year the central catchment team made a considerable contribution to the Company’s traditional Boundaries Biodiversity Action Plan of creating, restoring and maintaining secure stock-proof traditional boundaries as landscape features and wildlife corr
Helvellyn Gill A Cumbrian river has returned to life with a project at Helvellyn Gill. The scheme is part of a £5 million programme of work across Cumbria
Operational waste and environmental management handbook Our Operations employees can now find out how to manage their waste in a compliant manner with the new Operational Waste and Environmental Management Handbook.
Sludge strategy Several factors and trends have resulted in the increase of the amount of sludge produced in Europe and the UK over the past ten years...
Drought permit sites We have 18 potential drought permit and drought order sites. These are sites where, in the event of a drought, we may need to vary the conditions of our abstraction licences to maintain water supplies to our customers.
Managing leakage during extreme weather Between 11 December and 11 January 2010 the United Utilities Water region experienced very cold temperatures.
New water efficiency targets New mandatory water efficiency targets for water companies came into effect from April 2010 for the next five years to 2104/15. Our target is to reduce water usage by one litre per property per day – a five-fold increase on current savings.