Real competition in the water market is imminent. I am not talking here about competition in the non-domestic retail market, which is already underway, but a market of much more significance to the construction industry – new water and wastewater connections. And it is going to make waves. That is not just my opinion. The Home Builders Federation has established a committee to focus on how these major changes will impact their members and to prepare the housebuilding industry to make the most of the new opportunities.

From April, all housebuilders and developers, no matter what size development they are building or where it is (in England and Wales) will have a genuine choice of water network provider for the first time. Rather than just ordering the new connections for a site from the incumbent local water company, developers will be free to put the site network out to tender to other water companies and independent network providers and then choose which quotation represents the best deal for them. Sounds like standard procurement practice doesn’t it? But it has been years in arriving in the water market.

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