Partnering is not just a philosophy at Scottish Water Solutions, it is a driving force behind the delivery of Scottish Water's Q&S II and Q&S III (a) Capital Programmes.

It is based on the principles of Shared and Aligned Objectives, Joint Decision Making, Shared Risk and Reward adn Continuous Learning and Improvement.

The Solutions' Partnership is composed of Scottish Water, which is the majority owner with 51% of the shares in Solutions. The balance is shared equally by two consortia; UUGM Limited comprising United Utilities with their construction partners GallifordTry and Morgan Est and Stirling Water Limited, composed of Veolia Water UK with their construction partners Black and Veatch, KBR and Alfred McAlpine.

From day one, initiatives were introduced to develop the partnering ethos within the new Solutions' 'Delivering More for Less' corporate culture and to extend it from the In-House Delivery Partners to key suppliers, design and Associate Delivery Partners.

Partnering events, Best Practice Forum, Supply Chain Workshops, a Design Principles Panel and co-location encouraged issues to be aired and resolved and skills and knowledge to be transfered amongst partners in order to drive further efficicencies from the delivery of the Programmes.

This has included delivery partners being involved at the early stages of a project to input practical construction needs into designs.

These initiatives underpinned the 'pain-gain' arrangement which means that financial rewards only come to the Partners when the Programmes are delivered for less than the target cost: the partnership model is the first of its kind in the water industry where client, consultants and contractors collaborate together on a jointly incentivised basis.

The incentivisation model has also meant that the Programmes have not been dogged by the claims culture inherent in much of the construction industry, a remarkable achievement given the scale and pace of delivery.

In 2006, a joint Scottish Water/Solutions' Close Out Team was established to manage the huge task of handing over hundreds of projects completed in Q&S II. This drew on the partnership approach to bring focus to specific risks around documentation and telemetry.

The success of partnering in Solutions and the willingness of large contractors to share information with former competitors and smaller contractors has also brought about a wider cultural change in the Scottish construction industry.