Barhale Plc

Working with the best

Barhale plc is one of the largest privately owned infrastructure specialists in the UK

Originally formed in 1980 as a specialisttunnelling contractor, Barhale’s growth initially came through the successful delivery of projects in the water sector. This was followed with the development of mechanical and electrical capabilities and a fabrication and supply subsidiary, alongside its traditional tunnelling, civil engineering and utilities skills.

Now three and half decades since it was founded and still remaining privately owned, Barhale works UK-wide across the water, transport and energy sectors. The organisation provides design, construction and maintenance services under long-term contracts, with bluechip public, regulated and private clients, and has an annual turnover of £150m.

Underpinning the success of Barhale is a Three Pillar philosophy, whereby ‘Profit, Safety and Environment’ are the company’s core tenets. All three aims encompass the essential components of a successful business and were developed to meet customers’ business objectives of receiving a high quality, sustainable product through safe and efficient working based on improving performance.

It is clear that this approach is working very successfully for Barhale, and indeed, as the organisation moved into the second half of 2015 it had already enjoyed six months of significant project wins with well-known industry names. With the majority of its work coming in on the tunnelling and infrastructure side, and a smaller percentage of highway or railway upgrades, the company has undertaken a number of high profile collaborative contracts under Framework Agreements with the likes of Network Rail, Crossrail and Anglian Water.

In fact, in the area of utilities, Barhale is well established as one of the water industry’s leading integrated civil engineering / M & E services providers, with its division Barhale Trant Utilities (BTU) established solely to provide water services to Southern Water.

Following on from the six-year programme BTU was awarded by Southern Water in 2009, covering Hampshire and West Sussex, the division was appointed another long-term contract with Southern Water following a rigorous tendering process.

BTU was chosen as a React and Maintain (R&M) Operational partner in the utility’s new five-year £3 billion plan. It will provide mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, controls and automation (MEICA) across the whole of Southern Water’s area, and the business will undertake reactive, planned and capital maintenance and improvements of Southern Water’s assets. These include MEICA, process, water supply and wastewater treatment works and pumping stations.

With an option to extend for a further five years, the new contract for BTU started in April and runs to March 2020. BTU will cover Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Sussex and Kent.

Previous to this very significant milestone contract for Barhale, in 2014 the company was declared as one of six capital delivery partners appointed by Anglian Water to the first of four collaborative Alliances that will deliver frameworks worth over £6 billion. The £3 billion Integrated Main Works Capital (IMWC) contract will run for 15 years from 2015 covering the AMP6/7/8 Periods, with a review after each five-year AMP period.

The new IMWC Alliance will build on Anglian Water’s existing @one Alliance, in which Barhale was also a partner over the last nine years. As an IMWC contractor, the company has committed to Anglian Water’s ten key outcomes, which include fair profits, satisfied customers and a smaller carbon footprint. These outcomes originated from customer consultations undertaken by the water company prior to the development of its AMP6 business plan.

This contract will provide Barhale a huge opportunity to deliver long term efficiencies to the benefit of Anglian Water’s customers, as well as securing continuity of work for over 200 of the company’s current workforce employed within the Anglian region.

Barhale will be involved in the delivery of schemes ranging from the design and build of major infrastructure networks and treatment works, tackling flooding, first time sewerage provision, water quality improvements and growth to the capital maintenance of existing assets. The utilisation of innovative solutions under a new TOTEX (total expenditure) approach, in collaboration with both the operational and asset management teams within Anglian Water and the wider supply chain, will be key to the transformational change needed to ensure success for the Alliance.

Barhale’s Managing Director, Andy Flowerday, believes this contract presents a really exciting opportunity for the organisation to align with Anglian Water’s business plan, as well as being involved in the promotion and delivery of its key customer outcomes. “These reflect our own commitment to understand and address customers’ needs, as well as continually seeking ways to improve,” he said. “The incentivised commercial model, based on true outperformance against the Anglian Water business plan, provides a foundation to deliver sustainable efficiencies and maintain the frontier performance position we have jointly achieved over the last two AMP periods.”

The company’s Chairman, Dennis Curran, added that Barhale’s appointment serves as: “Recognition of the great work our teams have delivered within the @one Alliance over the last nine years. It demonstrates confidence in the people of Barhale to deliver transformational change and innovation through collaboration with our partners, the wider supply chain and the communities we serve.”

Barhale

Services: Infrastructure specialist