Finance
United Utilities taps Cascade for $4 billion upgrade of key water pipeline
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 21, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 21, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
United Utilities partners with Cascade for a £3 billion upgrade of the Haweswater aqueduct, enhancing water supply to 2.5 million in NW England.
(Reuters) -United Utilities on Thursday signed an agreement for a 3 billion pound ($4.03 billion) refurbishment of a key pipeline supplying water from Cumbria to 2.5 million customers in northwest England.
Cascade Infrastructure will deliver the project to upgrade Haweswater aqueduct in what could become one of the largest water infrastructure programmes across the UK.
The UK water sector has been under the spotlight for failures to tackle pollution problems and for prioritising profits and dividends over the environment and infrastructure investments.
"We are rebuilding the water network from the ground up through one of the largest infrastructure projects ever seen in Britain," Water Minister Emma Hardy said in a statement.
The 110 kilometre long Haweswater aqueduct is nearly 70 years old and uses gravity to deliver 570 million litres of water daily to Cumbria, Lancashire, and Greater Manchester.
Construction by Cascade Infrastructure, which has delivered similar tunnelling schemes in Europe, is expected to start in 2026 and will see six tunnel sections replaced, United Utilities said.
This is the first programme in the water sector to be delivered through a so-called direct procurement for customers model, a process where companies outsource the delivery of major infrastructure projects to third-party provider.
($1 = 0.7444 pounds)
(Reporting by Ankita Bora and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
Infrastructure financing refers to the funding of large-scale public works projects, such as transportation systems, utilities, and other essential services that support economic development.
Environmental sustainability is the responsible interaction with the environment to avoid depletion or degradation of natural resources, ensuring that future generations can meet their needs.
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