CASE STUDY
How a project team cut costs by 50% and kept delivery moving during urgent value engineering
SECTOR: WATER
UK
JUMP AHEAD
Overview
the problem
the solution
the results
OVERVIEW
A UK water company within a major AMP programme faced a serious cost challenge on a capital civils upgrade scheme. Following Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) pricing, a single project’s civils package came back at £7m — well above the acceptable cost envelope. The team had to find significant savings immediately, without stalling delivery or missing critical programme milestones. Using Sensat, the project team brought value engineering in-house, enabling them to test, measure, cost, and present revised options in days instead of weeks.
THE PROBLEM

The scheme involved complex pipe routes, chambers, and infrastructure layouts across 26 projects.
When the civils pricing exceeded budget, the project was at risk of entering a prolonged redesign cycle. The team needed to identify major savings quickly, rework layouts and routes, quantify changes, and present credible revised costs to steering groups - all without pausing the programme.

"
‍“The difference was being able to show the options spatially, not just describe them. When the steering group could see the revised routes overlaid on the site, decisions that normally take weeks were made in one session.”
PM at Tier 1 UK water company
What wasn't working

The scheme involved complex pipe routes, chambers, and infrastructure layouts across 26 projects.
When the civils pricing exceeded budget, the project was at risk of entering a prolonged redesign cycle. The team needed to identify major savings quickly, rework layouts and routes, quantify changes, and present credible revised costs to steering groups - all without pausing the programme.

THE SOLUTION
How Sensat was used
What changed for the delivery team
Internalised design control
Design leads and PMs could test "what-if" scenarios in the morning and have a costed, visual answer by the afternoon - without waiting on external consultant schedules.
Faster stakeholder alignment
Seeing revised layouts overlaid on the real-world site allowed steering groups to understand trade-offs immediately and make decisions in days rather than weeks.
Reduced rework
Quantities and feasibility were validated spatially before formal submission, increasing confidence that revised designs would not bounce back again.
Why is this mattered

For the project delivery team, this was not just a cost exercise.
It turned a potential delivery stall into a controlled, repeatable workflow. Instead of waiting on drawings and revised estimates, the PM could lead value engineering in real time, maintain momentum, and keep the programme on track despite intense budget pressure.

The result
£3.5m saved
from the original £7m civils package on a single project
4 weeks removed
from the traditional redesign and re-pricing cycle
Programme momentum protected
Value engineering completed without stalling delivery across a 26-project AMP scheme
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