Bristol Water has awarded its £20m-a-year network maintenance services programme contract to national building and civil engineering group Kier.
The contract, which starts on October 1, is for five years with a potential five-year extension.
Works include repairs and maintenance, metering, new connections, developer mains, trunk mains support and small diameter mains rehabilitation. Kier will be sole provider of the service. 
Kier has provided network maintenance services for Bristol Water since June last year when it competitively won the emergency contract after the previous provider went into administration.
This latest contract win strengthens Kier’s position as a major player in the water and utilities industries following its acquisition of May Gurney in July 2013.
Bristol Water director of network Gary Freake said: “Kier brings a wealth of experience not only in water, but also from the wider utility and construction sectors, and is delivering similar services to other water companies.
“Over the recent turbulent period, since our previous service provider went into administration, Kier have proven themselves, through their consistent performance and positive behaviours, to be a valuable partner to Bristol Water and one we are looking forward to working with in the years to come.”
Kier operations director for utilities in the South, Toby Harding, said: “Our forward-thinking approach to safety, health and environment; quality and customer service is closely aligned with Bristol Water, and we look forward to working closely with them to ensure the continued success of the programme.”
Bristol Water is owned by Canadian investment group Capstone Infrastructure Corporation (50%), Spanish water firm Grupo Agbar (30%) and Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corporation (20%). It serves a population of 1.1m and thousands of businesses in an area of 2,400sq km centred on Bristol and stretching to Thornbury and Tetbury in the north, Street and Glastonbury in the south, Weston-super-Mare in the west and Frome in the east. It also provides a bulk supply of water to Bath.
Sewerage services in the Bristol Water area are supplied by Wessex Water.
