MOD Estate Development FAQ’s

The Aquatrine contract transferred responsibility for the water and wastewater assets to Severn Trent Services Defence by way of leases and licenses and they became ours to manage, as such we have property rights over those assets. No-one should be interfering with or modifying the water or wastewater network without our approval. Any damage or interference, howsoever caused, must be reported to Severn Trent Services immediately.

Severn Trent Services have been appointed by the MOD to manage and maintain the MOD water and wastewater networks and systems.

No. Severn Trent Services are a commercial water services contractor which operates private water systems on behalf of the MoD across the country under the MOD Aquatrine Package C PFI contract. Severn Trent Water Limited are the Regulated Statutory Undertaker for water services in the Midlands.

The MOD has a right under the Aquatrine contract to make changes. They can do that in two ways:

1. Instruct us themselves under Clause 43.5 and give STS a Work Instruction and we will carry out the works, or
2. Remove that part of the network from the MOD contract and carry out the work themselves or by their Contractors. They can achieve that removal by;
   a. A Partial/Whole Site Group Disposal which would remove the area/whole site from Aquatrine.
   b. Schedule 23 which would temporarily/permanently remove the area from Aquatrine.

1. Schedule 23 allows the MOD to remove and later bring an area back into the scope of the Aquatrine contract without having to go through a Site Group removal/addition process.
2. Schedule 23 transfers the water and wastewater assets in that area to the MOD who can then hand it to the developer.
3. We are obligated to support the MOD with development projects under Schedule 23 and we review and comment on the proposals.
4. If the works to be carried out is going to impact the remaining network we would advise what can be accommodated and what cannot. If the required changes would need downstream works to be carried out, then we would require a Work Instruction to carry out those works.
5. If the changed network is not to the standard required then we would not accept it back into Aquatrine.

Yes, STS have supported both MoD and its agents in many large and small scale works across their Estate. We have an in-house design team and very experienced direct labour organisation as well as an extensive supply chain to support. One of the key benefits of engaging with Severn Trent Services is that the assets and infrastructure will be guaranteed to be accepted into the scope of Aquatrine if constructed by STS. The support services of STS can either be provided direct to MoD or through their industry partners. Please contact one of our team if you require further details on the following link – Commercial Water Services.

No, until assets or infrastructure are inspected, quality checked and are formally handed over to STS, they will remain out of scope, STS will not accept liability for any newly installed assets including water and waste water infrastructure until it is evidenced that they have been built to STS standards (Available on request) by competent and appropriately qualified personnel.

Connections to the network will result in the MOD paying for Consumption (charges for water and wastewater services) regardless of who has connected or why. The MOD must be in a position to engage with those 3rd parties to negotiate and conclude an MOD Contracted Customer (MCC) contract so that they can recover some or all of those costs from you the 3rd party. STS are custodians of the network, please refer to our MOD Contracted Customers (MCC’s) section of the website.

We (STS) do not take on SUDS as part of Aquatrine, Sewers for Adoption is a technical standard, designed for developers looking to Statutory Undertakers (SUs) to adopt said assets. STSD is not an SU and whilst we may be comfortable with MOD and MOD developers building to SFA, this does not include SUDS. We do not adopt geo-cellular type of attenuation or soakaways, we can provide the type of structures we would accept but you would need to submit your proposals in the first instance to comment on.

Water, wastewater and surface water assets are in scope but land drainage is strictly out of scope.

You can use whichever contact method is the most convenient for you:

General Enquiries and questions:

• Email: customer.enquiries@stservices.co.uk
• Telephone: 0345 3510208

Estate Development:

• Email: estate.development@stservices.co.uk