Scottish Water preferred bidders: enterprise framework implications for project teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Scottish Water has named Stantec and Aecom as primary designers and five asset delivery partners – M Group Water, Mott MacDonald Bentley, Farrans, WGM Engineering and Ross-Shire Engineering – for a six-year enterprise-style programme covering water and waste water upgrades from 2027 to 2033, with an option to extend a further six years. The framework, described as delivering around one-third of the SR27 capital investment programme, is Scottish Water’s largest procurement to date. Primary designers will hold end-to-end design accountability, while delivery partners will execute capital works once contracts are finalised by March 2026.
Technical Brief
- Primary designers are mandated to ensure designs align with Scottish Water’s defined service and outcome targets.
- Asset delivery partners will be tasked with driving programme-level delivery and on-site construction sequencing.
- Governance will centre on an “enterprise” structure, integrating Scottish Water, designers and constructors into a single delivery system.
Our Take
Stantec’s role here reinforces its position in Scottish infrastructure, following its appointment on the Shetland subsea fixed link reference design review, suggesting it is becoming a go‑to designer for complex northern UK water and transport interfaces.
A programme window running from 2027 to 2033, with potential extension to 2039, gives Scottish Water and contractors such as Aecom and Mott MacDonald Bentley unusually long visibility on workload, which typically supports investment in in‑house digital delivery and offsite fabrication capacity.
With procurement not due to complete until March 2026, there is a long pre‑construction phase in which supply chain partners like M Group Water and Ross‑Shire Engineering can align frameworks with evolving UK water‑sector regulatory requirements on leakage, resilience and carbon performance.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
