THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE,WATER &WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
Martin with Chris Packham and a peregrine falcon at a UKSTT Awards Ceremony.
What has been your most challenging experience over your years in the industry either in general or specifically trenchless or both (project/product development)?
The most difficult role I picked up was the move from Engineering Director to Customer Relations (CR) in 2005.We had some regulatory issues and I led the internal investigation into alleged misreporting of data. The outcome was a report to the regulatory situation setting outwhat had gone wrong. This resulted in a fine of £37.6 million pounds. Having been inmy dream job of Engineering Director for less than 1 year Iwas asked to go and sort out the underlying issues in CR. This involved sorting out some complex IS issues then retraining and rebuilding the confidence of our teams. Itwas a three year turnaround project and it was one time when I really had to learn a whole new skill set at speed. The most challenging project has been the Birmingham Resilience project, which is just going through final commissioning now. It involved building a new water treatment plant in the middle of an existing one without any interruptions to supply orwater quality issues being experienced by the 1.2 million customers served by this site. It also involved a lot of tunnellingwork through
FOLLOW US
some difficult terrain both to bring a new supply in from the River Severn and to replace some parts of the 120 year old aqueduct bringing water fromWales to Birmingham. Therewere very heavy regulatory penalties for late delivery and the site teamsworked miracles to complete on time.
What do you see as being your own greatest personal achievement in the water/ trenchless industry?
The single moment which touched me most was picking up a trophy at the Severn Trent Awesome Awards a couple of years ago. The Awardwas for making an‘Outstanding Contribution’.You have to be nominated and voted for by other folks in the company. Recognition bymy colleagues was truly special. Apart from that I have a tremendous bank of memories of thewonderful folks I have worked with over the past 49 years. Too many to mention individually but helping people reach their full potential has always been a passion for me. As formy proudest moment, having been told at a number of performance reviews that Iwould possibly get to beMDof one of the fringe companies (we had lots in the 1990’s). I made it to theWater Executive
team when I secured the Director of Engineering position in 2005, I then joined the main Board of Severn Trent in 2007 until 2015. Having started out as a technician in the Engineering team it was a real privilege to be asked to lead the department. I have to accept that Iwas not always the easiest employee to manage inmy younger years.
Have you any now or when you started did you have any particular role models in the industry? Who were they and why did they influence your career?
Approach every job with a positive mind-set and learn as much as you can whilst doing it. Knowledge is awonderful thing and folks who have a curious mind go and find things out. It is easy in a business process focussed world to just do the task in front of you. It is so much more enjoyable to have a deeper interest inwhat you are doing and that is what drives improvement and innovation. In the early 1990’s the person who made me realise this was Derek Lackington who was a senior manager at Severn Trent and was known throughout the sector as‘Super Lac’. We had the most enjoyable and productive time together aswe transformed thewater supply and distribution functions and then set about creating the ST mains rehabilitation department in 1989. He
September 2020 | drain TRADER 21
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