Connect. The Total Utility Solution

Case Study

Major Project Report - Kingsway Urban Village Living

Just to the South West of Gloucester and situated on the 330 acre site of a former RAF base, Kingsway Urban Village is one of the UK’s most exciting new developments. With space for 3200 new homes over 10 years, it’s no small project – Connect’s Sara Tun, Regional Operations Manager, and Kelvin Ruck, Projects Director, take us through some of the challenges and successes involved in bringing utility connections to the site.

Formerly known as Quedgeley Urban Village, this development of houses and apartments in Gloucestershire is one of the greatest successes in consortium development in the UK. Offering more than 3000 homes over a ten year period, it’s been put together by a strong group of developers, including Taylor Woodrow and Westbury (now a part of the Persimmon group). “When you’re planning a ten year build-out of houses, you really have to know you can trust your suppliers to deliver – and Connect can ” Kelvin Ruck told us.

“Quedgeley was a relatively new kind of challenge for us when it started,” he continues, “as the dual fuel approach was something almost nobody else could deliver, what with electricity deregulation so recently coming into force.”

Large developments like Quedgeley offer a variety of challenges to developers and their suppliers: the sheer numbers of potential connections, liaising with everyone from the local council to the parent operators, from subcontractors to direct contracting teams. Any breaks in the chain have a massive potential for project slip and incurring extra costs – something no developer needs. Kelvin and his team were there to ensure this kind of thing was foreseen well in advance and avoided.

What kind of specific challenges did you have with Quedgeley? “On the electric side, we had to take a 12 MVA capacity from the incumbent DNO [Distribution Network Operator] which required extensive offsite work and reinforcement via Central Networks. We then installed our own 11KV ring main around the development with a number of appropriately positioned distribution sub-stations to provide the local low voltage connections required.”

And that wasn’t all: “Another issue with Quedgeley,” continues Kelvin, “was that, due to the extent of offsite reinforcement required and the timescales involved, the developer could have been left hanging on their power requirements.” Were Connect able to help? “Well, we sought out a temporary limited capacity connection from the DNO in order to allow the Phase 1 development connections to be facilitated. I don’t think many companies would have made the extra effort to ensure that supplies were available when required in this way.”

Part of Connect’s advantage was it’s early adoption of a “dual fuel” approach. Sara Tun, Regional Development Manager, explains: “Most utility companies offer only one type of connection, but we are working with Independent Pipelines and Independent Power Networks who have nationwide licenses for gas and electric projects respectively. It means we can take on a development like this and offer considerable advantages.” Is it better for the consumer? “For the most part, they probably won’t notice the difference – it’s the developers who get the most benefit. They have only one point of contact and one trench to dig. Our gas and electric are laid at the same depth and same time, which saves time and money as well as administration costs. Maintenance is also considerably easier because of the improved access routes. That might be something the consumer does notice – less digging up of their roads when maintenance work is carried out.”

The Connect team are focused on delivering for their developers. With a project this size – and which is planned to build-out over a decade – costs can spiral over time far in excess of initial projections. Does Connect aim to address such factors? Kelvin has a particular perspective as Projects Director: “It’s the ability to provide costings and designs for the whole development at a very early stage in the process. Most other companies only provide costs and designs on a phase-by-phase basis which makes planning very difficult if you’re a developer. Having - potentially - to dig up, re-excavate and reinstate footpaths to facilitate the laying of additional cables for future phases is a major hassle and costs developers dearly; Connect plans it out right from the start. This is definitely something that our developers appreciate.”

Sara is quick to add: “By going to Connect rather than the parent operator, there’s a clear price benefit and service advantage to developers. Lead times aren’t as long and they can monitor their work at every stage of the process. Developers can phone and check progress directly with their account manager. You get individual assistance rather than just a general enquiries line - our Account Managers know the developers, the concept, the work requirements and they can advise accordingly.”

It’s all about providing one simple point of contact – “We can offer a one-stop shop with onsite teams providing cabling and gas – it’s the same team, the same point of contact and the same trench,” says Kelvin, “It’s one visit rather than several. This helps keep costs down and minimises disruption to the development itself.” As Sara mentions, “Utilities aren’t the biggest part of developing a piece of land, not by a long shot – we know that the main things developers care about are getting the work done cost effectively, proficiently and with the least amount of fuss.”

Helping developers avoid fuss is a large part of Connect’s remit. With the Quedgeley / Kingsway development, Sara takes a good deal of pride in Connect’s ability to cut through red tape on the developers’ behalf: “We had to cross a major dual carriageway, as well as make alterations to primary substations in Tuffley which involves liaising with the parent operators, the developers, numerous contractors, local councils and all sorts. It’s a massive task for a developer but we take it off their hands and make it much easier. They get to use our expertise in the industry to handle everything from admin to challenging the parent operators’ costs – we know the industry so we know when they’re overcharging!”

It’s not just expertise, of course. Sara is keen to point out that “personal relationships are everything – we’re number one on price, which is a big advantage, but the relationships with Account Managers are what counts – developers trust us to deliver on our promises because they get to talk to people who understand what they need.” And not just Account Managers; it’s a frame of mind that runs through the whole team : Senior Project Managers, Admin Support, Project Managers, CAD operators, Site Supervisors, Direct Contracting teams and specialist subcontractors.

Kelvin, too, has to deal with his fair share of personnel and requirements. What’s his area of responsibility on a project of this kind? “It’s about coordinating the tender for the bid to the consortium and developer, coordinating the various design aspects – that’s all the connection designs, infrastructure, CSEPs and the interfaces generally with the upstream operators.” In this case, that meant Wales & West (formerly Transco) and other DNOs, such as Central Networks, to help facilitate and provide the point of connections for both gas and electric. “Again,” he says, it’s all about taking work off the developers’ hands.”

With the project now at an advanced stage, what’s the feedback been like? Both Sara and Kelvin agree: it’s been excellent. From the perspective of the people that have bought properties on the site, “It’s done,” says Sara, “the gas and electric are on and the street lights are shining. People have moved in and they won’t notice any difference.” Kelvin, meanwhile, is keen to point out the future effects: “We’ve met all of our customers expectations and are now in the process of facilitating Phase Two of the development,” he says. “Feedback has been excellent and we’re getting additional requests for an adjacent commercial development on the back of it, so we’ve obviously done the job well.”

For Connect, it’s certainly not a case of resting on their laurels, however. “There’s always room for improvement,” continues Kelvin. “We have ongoing site auditing processes to ensure that everything is functioning OK and to ensure that any deficiencies are highlighted and rectified, including amending the processes themselves.” Sara agrees, pointing out that “Developers got wise to traditional suppliers – they’re much more clued up now and demand constant improvements in service. We’re in a much better position to deliver those improvements.”