Wessex Water has increased the estimated capital cost of its Poole Water Recycling and Transfer Project, meaning the cost to design and build the scheme, from around £170 million to approximately £287 million, excluding VAT, according to an updated preliminary market engagement notice.
This capital cost sits within a larger, separate figure: the estimated total expenditure over the life of the 25 year contract, which adds ongoing operating and maintenance costs to the capital cost. That total expenditure figure remains unchanged at £414 million including VAT.
Wessex Water is now opening a further round of market engagement, starting with a supplier webinar on 14 July 2026 to provide updates on the project. A Poole engagement event is expected to follow in autumn 2026.
Project scope and procurement model
At this stage, the project comprises a new 30 Ml/d Water Recycling Centre at Corfe Mullen, together with associated works including the transfer of flows from the existing Poole Water Recycling Centre, the creation of new wetlands, and discharge pipelines into the River Stour.
Wessex Water intends to appoint a Competitively Appointed Provider to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the new facility under the Direct Procurement for Customers model, the same delivery approach used for other major regional water infrastructure schemes in England. The formal tender notice is expected to be published around 30 July 2027, with a deadline for requests to participate set for late November 2027 and an award decision anticipated by May 2029. Contract works are estimated to run for 25 years, from July 2029 to July 2054.
Part of a wider regional programme
The Poole project sits within the West Country Water and Environment group's broader plans to strengthen water resource resilience in the South West of England, where climate change and population growth are placing increasing pressure on supply. A related but separate scheme, the Cheddar 2 Reservoir Project, is being taken forward in parallel by South West Water, using the same procurement model.
Cheddar 2 is a considerably larger undertaking, with an estimated capital value of around £750 million and total expenditure of about £1 billion. It comprises a new earth embankment reservoir with a usable capacity of 8,200 Ml, along with a raw water transfer system and approximately 75 km of potable water transfer pipeline supplying South West Water customers in Devon.
