A participatory study into the creation of a new infrastructure delivery system in the regulated UK water sector
The project creates a new infrastructure delivery system through the design and implementation of a Strategic Change Model to facilitate change management. The project is premised on identifying barriers to effective delivery within an Infrastructure Client Organisation (ICO), and subsequently on finding a way to address those issues in the real world. Oscillating between theory, literature and action, the project concentrates on the creation of the new AMP6 Infrastructure Delivery System for UKWASC (United Utilities), a regulated monopolistic provider of water and wastewater services in the North West of England, responsible for delivering over £3 billion in infrastructure expenditure between 2015 and 2020. Beginning in 2012 and employing a Three Phase Change Approach (TPCA) towards participatory action, the project utilises participant observation, action research and participatory action research over a 3+ year period. This project has focused primarily on five interventions into UKWASC to improve Strategic Procurement Management Competence (SPMC) within the organisation. With interventions premised in the use of socio‐technical systems for the purposes of joint optimisation within the ICO, the project served to form the Strategic Change Model as a vehicle through which to intervene and to promote effective change management within the ICO (UKWASC). Focusing on the single study, the project is premised on the formation of warrantable assertions as locally created representations of knowledge. Such assertions are made for the purpose of contribution to theory, practice and the participatory focused methodologies in light of strategic procurement, change management, participatory focused research and the application of systems thinking principles in the delivery of infrastructure.
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