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The UK water industry is a private sector that has no government mandate to implement building information modelling (BIM) but would benefit from its use. Research has identified that fragmentation and inefficiency still existed in the water industry project delivery processes. These issues can be addressed by harnessing the collaboration that BIM brings by using emerging information technology. The UK water industry has had little research in the use of BIM in the project delivery processes over the years.

The aim of the research is to explore and examine BIM elements currently used in the water industry, as well as understand the organisational cultural support for BIM. It also investigated the adoption of BIM which will enable to improve water industry project delivery processes. An empirical study was performed in the UK given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, a qualitative research methodology was adopted. In total, 14 semi-structured interviews from six water sector organisations were conducted to collect data, which was then analysed using thematic analysis for inference and conclusion.

The study identified that BIM has already changed how projects are delivered by the water companies and their supply chain. Use of emerging technology such as Autodesk Revit, Civil 3D and virtual reality has gained traction and is leading organisations to continue investing in these areas to remain relevant. Although staff training was offered by all organisations within the study cohort, some interviews still thought that more can be done by their organisations as BIM is still maturing. Those interviewed regarded BIM models as data and information rich with the ability to enable the supply chain to obtain quicker approvals.

The paper provides a richer insight into the understanding and awareness of BIM elements used in the water industry to improve project delivery processes. This study suggests that the water industry supply chain has taken positive steps and started to benefit from BIM use. It also recommends that there is a need for cross-sector collaboration to capture and share best and worst practices relating to BIM adoption in the water sector.

Since the privatization of UK utilities, few studies have examined supply chain management (SCM) in the sector. This paper aims to investigate the state of development of the SCM concept and the role of the emerging internet‐based electronic marketplaces in supporting this.

Using a case study method, interviews were conducted with managers in seven UK electricity and water utilities. Areas explored are the firms' supply chain priorities, how eMarketplaces can support their supply chain goals and the barriers to adoption of eBusiness solutions.

The research reveals a strong orientation in both the electricity and water industry firms towards controlling cost inputs. Consequently, their focus is on managing procurement as the primary supply chain activity. The key barriers to eBusiness adoption identified are the problem of providing genuine benefits to suppliers, and the technical difficulties of marketplace implementation.

This is an exploratory study of the domain and further work in this area needs to focus on how utilities will develop their supply chain competences and how eBusiness solutions can support them.

The research concludes that operators of electronic marketplaces have not yet delivered a convincing case for wider participation in management of the supply chain online. A stronger SCM orientation will need to emerge in utility firms before that can occur.

This is a benchmarking study and the purpose of this paper is to investigate if there is any association between operational efficiency in the integrated water management industry in Italy and the typology of service providers, and as a consequence, the nature of concession contract.

The study is focussed on 38 optimal territorial areas (ATOs), e.g. a circumscribed geographical area where the provision of integrated water services is considered efficient. It uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to calculate ATO efficiency and a stepwise regression procedure performed to investigate the effect of contract type on the operational efficiency rate of the ATO.

This study shows that there are some inefficiencies in the water service supply industry in Italy. The estimated average pure technical and scale efficiency of ATOs are 92.62 and 93.91 percent, respectively, while the average technical efficiency is 87.61 percent and the lowest is slightly higher than 13 percent. Operational inefficiencies might not be determined by size only. In fact, results show that the water service provider and contract agreement typologies are associated with efficiency. In particular, operational efficiency is higher in those ATOs where the water service supply concession contracts that fit the schemes of the new legislative framework prevail or where the service is mostly provided by a private equity owned or by mixed public-private companies.

It was assumed that any incremental level of water quality beyond the minimum acceptable threshold as required by law is not important to increase the operation efficiency score; henceforth, no variables measuring the water quality were introduced in the DEA model. The result of the study may be not fully representative of the Italian water service sector, because the unavailability of accurate and consistent public databank in Italy did not allowed to have a larger sample.

This paper is one of the first in Italy to investigate the association between the operational efficiency of the ATOs and the nature of water service providers and contract agreements used.

This paper is one of the first in Italy to investigate the association between the operational efficiency of the ATOs and the nature of water service providers and contract agreements used.

The Secretary of State after approving proposals submitted by the Water Supply Industry Training Board for the imposition of a further levy on employers in the water supply industry and in exercise of his powers under section 4 of the Industrial Training Act 1964 and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf hereby makes the following Order:—

The Secretary of State after approving proposals submitted by the Water Supply Industry Training Board for the imposition of a further levy on employers in the water supply industry and in exercise of her powers under section 4 of the Industrial Training Act 1964(a) and of all other powers enabling her in that behalf hereby makes the following Order:—

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how benchmarking affects transparency and economic performance in the public sector.

The paper applies a quasi‐experimental method to 1989‐2000 time series data on benchmarking and non‐benchmarking water utilities in The Netherlands.

Benchmarking immediately enhanced transparency, but only affected utility economic performance after benchmarking information entered the public domain. This confirms that benchmarking enhances transparency and performance. The findings do not support the yardstick regulation hypothesis that utility managers will only tighten financial discipline when benchmarking is embedded in a regime of managed competition.

The main limitation of this study is its single‐industry scope. Further testing of benchmarking effects in other public services is needed to validate its findings.

The paper presents evidence from the Dutch water supply industry focusing on transparency and performance in collaborative benchmarking.

The Secretary of State after approving proposals submitted by the Water Supply Industry Training Board for the imposition of a further levy on employers in the water supply industry and in exercise of her powers under section 4 of the Industrial Training Act 1964 and of all other powers enabling her in that behalf hereby makes the following Order :—

The Secretary of State after approving proposals submitted by the Water Supply Industry Training Board for the imposition of a further levy on employers in the water supply industry and in exercise of his powers under section 4 of the Industrial Training Act 1964 and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf hereby makes the following Order:—

The Secretary of State after approving proposals submitted by the Water Supply Industry Training Board for the imposition of a further levy on employers in the water supply industry and in exercise of his powers under section 4 of the Industrial Training Act 1964 and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf hereby makes the following Order:—

The Secretary of State after approving proposals submitted by the Water Supply Industry Training Board for the imposition of a further levy on employers in the water supply industry and in exercise of powers conferred by section 4 of the Industrial Training Act 1964 and now vested in him, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf hereby makes the following Order:—