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Partnering for Success (P4S) Program

WSP is part of a joint venture, responsible of delivering design, construction, maintenance and facility management across Sydney Water’s assets for the next 10 years.

Location

  • Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Client

  • Sydney Water

Project Status

  • 2020-2030

Procurement Model

  • Alliance contracting including WSP, John Holland, Comdain & Lendlease

Sydney Water is the largest water authority in Australia, serving approximately five million customers over a large geographical area. Maintaining the health of Sydney’s waterways including beaches, rivers and tributaries is becoming more challenging as the thriving city’s population continues to grow.

To deliver world-class services within a market environment of continued population growth, evolving customer expectations, competition parameters, and the challenges of climate change including drought and coastal erosion, Sydney Water developed its Partnering for Success (P4S) program – a new model for procurement and capital works delivery using the New Engineering Contract (NEC) collaborative contract developed by the UK Institution of Engineering. The NEC contract had not been used previously on such a large scale in Australia.

In 2020, Delivering for Customers (D4C) – a joint venture between WSP, John Holland, Lendlease Services and Comdain – was appointed by Sydney Water as a regional delivery contractor for the South region, under its P4S program. Responsible for the delivery of design, construction, maintenance and facility management across Sydney Water’s assets for the next 10 years, D4C will contribute to the program’s aims of meeting the future needs of Sydney’s growing population.


Setup & Benefits of Digital Project Delivery

To bring together the 300-member team (expected to expand to 600 over the 10-year period) to solve project challenges and evolve into the future, WSP brought our Future Ready ‘project in a box’ approach to the joint venture, blending the importance of digital engineering with new ways of project control and delivery. This model, developed for managing data in a large joint venture operation utilises a modular architecture, complex integrations and single-sign-on as the foundations of a future proofed system.

Key benefits include:

  • Ubiquitous connectivity – to enable easy, inexpensive and reliable data connectivity and access, practically all applications are housed in the Cloud. Every application complies to a standard for single-sign-on. This means that access and permissions to all applications is controlled and accessed through only one unique login and password for each authorised user.
  • Data & transparency – the entire system is ISO:27001 compliant, the global standard for data security and management. Four key aspects were considered: integration of disparate data from 23 software applications in total including project control software, occupational health and safety software, financial and time sheeting systems; automating the data to be fit-for-purpose, so you get information where you want it, when you want it; equipping people to enable them to do their jobs efficiently; and the network and hosting infrastructure.
  • Digital expectations – with P4S derived from the customer centric journey, D4C became the chosen name for the joint venture. Delivering world class service is when the customer is seamlessly delivered water – be it in the form of public health; clean waterways; or clean, running water in their homes. Sharing of information across all aspects of Sydney Water’s operation for the benefit of their customers enables this seamless delivery.
  • Automation – the reduction or elimination of manual handling of data was a key objective from the outset. We set out to free our team up to work on high value tasks and activities. The ‘project in a box’ approach created a technology model for large joint venture or alliance projects enabling premium and cost-effective future-proof efficiency.
Diagram-P4S-Program
Number of customers
5 million 5 million
Reservoirs
248 248
Wastewater treatment plants
16 16

Project controls and expertise in technology were evident as the critical success factors for the project. To overcome the challenges of many teams working together as one in the joint venture, WSP engaged early on with our partners and Sydney Water, to develop an approach and solution that meets stakeholder needs now and into the future.

WSP recognised that the required technology needed to be an evolving, changing system. We designed the system to be modular so components can be replaced as technology changes and improves over time. This recognises that the rate of change and advancements in technology is inevitable and therefore needs to be designed into the architecture.

The project was awarded in December 2019, mobilisation began in January 2020 and the system went live on 1 July in the same year despite the restrictions of the Coronavirus pandemic. It was in this regard very much like a start-up company. WSP essentially built an enterprise system in less than six months, including an IT infrastructure and applications architecture that would more usually be implemented over a far longer period.


Contributions to Resiliency, Sustainability and Social Values

The P4S model provides a platform to ensure the projects delivered increase the resilience of Sydney’s water and wastewater networks, while aligning with Sydney Water’s net zero targets and prioritising customer at the heart of everything we do.

Sydney Water is aiming to achieve “net zero” with respect to carbon emissions from operations and investment programs by 2030. This will extend to the supply chain by 2040. The 2030 target aligns with the end of the P4S 10-year program providing a perfect platform for WSP to progressively introduce future ready and net zero design principles, taking a Totex view of value for Sydney Water’s customers.

Under the P4S program, design, construction and maintenance are delivered under the one team, integrated with Sydney Water. This approach is yielding benefits in the ability of Sydney Water’s networks and facilities to be made more resilient. Examples include:

Pipelines

  • D4C is using integrated GIS (Create) and design software (Civil3d) to take environmental factors and heritage items in consideration in early phases of the design development of pipeline alignments for growth projects. Pipeline alignments are also published in Create allowing the design team and stakeholders to evaluate different options and adjust on site using portable devices.
  • Civil3d modelling was to model the impact of building a pump station within floodplain area. The ability to visualise the required earthworks allowed the team to demonstrate that the suggested site location would have a significant impact on the adjacent riparian corridor, which is an environmentally significant area, and further analyse other more suitable areas.
  • Using 3d modelling for critical watermain renewals has allowed the team to make easier optimised route alignments to save significant trees.
  • Improved stakeholder engagement, enabled by the P4S model, has resulted in changes to previous Concept Design alignments to avoid installing a new pipeline in newly constructed roads and handing over part of the project to developers to align with construction timing and not disrupt new roads in the future. These changes provide a significant improvement in customer experience.

Pumping Stations

  • The use of 3D modelling in pumping station in design of pumping station upgrades has allowed the design team to get a better grasp on small building (superstructure) constraints. With this modelling, D4C have been able to confidently place electrical boards within the small building rather than outside. This reduces maintenance and increases the design life.
  • 3D modelling is used to make several design optimisations aimed at improving ease of maintenance in brownfield pumping stations with space constraints. One example was the ability to gain a clear picture of clearances which helped to confirm the positioning of large non-return valves whilst providing operators with the confidence that they could access the area for maintenance.

Treatment Plants

  • Use of 3D modelling for the design of four new screw presses as part of an inlet works upgrade allowed quick stakeholder agreement on optimisation of the design while considering ease of maintenance, process optimisation and cost.
  • Ability to confidently locate new wash presses inside the building while assuring the operators that ease of maintenance would be achieved, avoiding having to locate the presses outside the building where they would be visible to the nearby golf course. 
  • Using lessons learned from other projects deviations from SW technical standards are sought where a benefit can be demonstrated. The use of stainless-steel pipework for an above ground installation at a recent brownfield upgrade provided a reduction in maintenance as well as improved ease of installation compared with the SW standard of ABS or Copper. 
  • On a Cogen project, the design team have used 3D modelling to help operators / maintainers understand how the infrastructure will operate and then made changes to improve it. These include:
  • Increasing the spacing between the cogeneration units to improve access for equipment removal by forklift.
  • Minimising the number of ground mounted pipe supports to limit the interference for maintenance access.
  • Moving the position of the switch room to improve access for maintenance of the transformers.
  • Using the 3D model to discuss and agree piping, valve and instrument arrangements.


Read WSP's Digital Project Delivery white paper on Pursuing Sustainability and Productivity Gains with Digital Project Delivery.