Stories

KBR, in partnership with international design, engineering and advisory company, Aurecon, will support WaterNSW in designing and delivering the next five-year regulatory pricing submission to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).

The partnership will develop project scope, conceptual designs, expenditure estimates and enhanced delivery certainty for WaterNSW’s asset portfolio to ensure smart sustaining capital investment and inform delivery decisions for its water services. The pricing submission is fundamental to prudent and efficient service delivery to WaterNSW’s customers in the Greater Sydney drinking water catchment and in the State’s regulated regional surface water supply systems.

Through reviewing, assessing, and analysing more than 400 projects of varying asset types, the partnership will provide foundational and valuable insights in project scoping, options selection, concept design and cost estimations for the pricing submission. The information will also ensure WaterNSW makes strategic investment to support the resilience of New South Wales’s communities and provide the right level of water services.

KBR’s Senior Director of Water, Energy and Resources, Carey Gent, said the KBR team is looking forward to accelerating the development of WaterNSW’s pricing submission, with a focus on quality and best-practice cost intelligence to provide an up-to-date view of the program’s cost and overall performance with transparency and visibility.

"We are excited to leverage our data analytics and cost intelligence solutions applied on other major programs with SA Water and Yarra Valley Water, alongside our asset expertise, to enable smart sustaining capital investment and informed investment decisions,” Gent said.

WaterNSW Executive Manager Operations Ronan Magaharan welcomed the partnership with KBR and Aurecon, saying it would improve outcomes for the business and its customers.

“Our IPART pricing submission is a vital underpinning of our business operations, and we are taking steps to ensure it is as considered and thorough as possible.

“This partnership gives us access to a wealth of experience in the sector and strategic insights that, when combined with our internal expertise regarding our customer needs and assets, I am confident will lead to improved service delivery by WaterNSW.”

This is KBR and Aurecon’s fourth partnership providing an Australian water utility with planning, engineering and program services. The partnership will draw successful experience from similar programs for SA Water, Yarra Valley Water, WaterNSW/Water Infrastructure NSW.