ANNUAL REVIEW

PAUL BENTLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR

WELCOME

WELCOME TO OUR LATEST ANNUAL REVIEW, A REFLECTION ON THE LAST 12 MONTHS IN OUR ORGANISATION.

I’m at risk of repeating myself from previous editions here, but it was another very busy year – our busiest ever as we delivered over £550m worth of revenue with our clients across the UK.

Much of our efforts were focused on helping our clients hit critical regulatory output dates in the water sector. We successfully achieved 60 dates in December 2024 alone. This is an excellent achievement and a big reason why clients know they can rely on us to get the job done – and why so many want to work with us in AMP8 and beyond. More on that later.

Another highlight was the company seminar. Not long ago, gathering every employee in one place on one day wasn’t very difficult. Things are a bit different now! The seminar saw 2,500 colleagues, suppliers and clients take over Harrogate in North Yorkshire for a two-day event. As the company has grown, it’s become more of a challenge to see everyone as often as you would like, so it was really nice to see so many faces in person. Many people contributed to the success of the day, and I hope you all took away some key messages, be it the importance of teamwork, embracing innovation, and — of course – how health and safety remains our number one priority.

We maintained a good health and safety record in 2024, but the reality was that some people still got injured on our construction sites. Our vision for health and safety is to achieve zero injuries. We didn’t achieve zero last year, which means there’s more for us all to do. The seminar reinforced some of the key messages, including a focus on compliance with our standards — because it’s often when we don’t comply that people get hurt. I urge us to double down on safety in 2025 by checking our behaviours, avoiding complacency and following our operational safety standards.

WE CELEBRATED 25 YEARS OF MOTT MACDONALD BENTLEY (MMB), OUR INTEGRATED DESIGN AND BUILD COMPANY.

In an industry where the lifetime of a joint venture is often fleeting, the longevity that MMB has shown is testament to our great people, the relationship between JN Bentley and Mott MacDonald, and that healthy design/build tension that exists when we perform at our best. Of course, for the last ten years, JN Bentley has been part of the Mott MacDonald Group itself. We are well established within the Group and delivering better projects than ever. Big thanks for this must go to regional design director Nick Fawcett. In his six years in MMB, Nick made us better technically and I wish him well in his retirement. Good luck to Jamie Colwell who picked up the mantle at the beginning of 2025.

IT IS THANKS TO THE BRILLIANT PROJECTS WE ARE DELIVERING THAT WE HAVE MADE OURSELVES INDUSTRY-LEADING AND IN TURN ENJOYED SUCH A SUCCESSFUL ROUND OF TENDERING.

On the theme of people, it was pleasing to see so many ‘early careers’ new starters in 2024 — even if they make me feel old! New cohorts of apprentices and graduates always bring with them fresh ideas and vibrancy, and our dedicated early career professionals (ECP) network is thriving. I firmly believe we’ve created a brilliant environment for people to forge a career, steered and mentored by so many skilled and experienced colleagues.

I ENJOYED SOME MEMORABLE VISITS TO WATER SITES LAST YEAR.

I spent a great day visiting some projects around Yorkshire and couldn’t have been prouder of the pace and professionalism I saw. The large spillway we are constructing in Wales at Llyn Celyn Reservoir is an astonishing scheme — as good a large project as I’ve seen us deliver. I also enjoyed my time in the Strategic Pipeline Alliance (SPA), where the team is coming through some challenges in really good shape, and I look forward to seeing more pipes laid in the ground when the weather picks up in 2025.

We remained committed to building our business outside of the regulated water industry, with the likes of the Environment Agency, Canal & River Trust and clients in the industrial buildings market. 2024 also saw us diversify into the battery energy storage sector for the first time. The more renewable energy the country generates, the more storage will be needed, so we see this as a growing market for us. Our project at Wilton on Teesside provides us with a good opportunity to demonstrate our skills and capability.

The latest round of AMP8 contract awards closed in 2024. Our bids were compelling and saw us secure new (and renew existing) long-term frameworks with nine of the UK’s largest regulated water and sewerage companies, including brand new clients South West Water and Wessex Water. It is thanks to the brilliant projects we are delivering that we have made ourselves industry-leading and in turn enjoyed such a successful round of tendering. The growth this brings in terms of workload and geography means we can provide our people with some fantastic opportunities.

We’re set for an exciting few years.