Improvements needed in water sector information management, says BIM4Water chair

Change is needed to improve information management practices in the water sector, says Clare Taylor, chair of the 2,000-strong practitioners network BIM4Water in a wide-ranging major interview in BIMplus (26 February 2025). And she says the recently launched nima/CLC-backed Information Management Initiative (IMI) could provide the necessary disruption to improve digital maturity across the sector.

AMP8 benefits require better data sharing

From 2025 to 2030, water companies in England and Wales are set to spend £104bn in asset management period 8 (AMP8), improving their environmental performance and making their infrastructure more resilient to climate change and population growth. Taylor – head of digital delivery at MWH Treatment – says digital technologies will be key to helping deliver the efficiency improvements.

She tells BIMplus the new spending plans have given added impetus to water companies’ efforts to review the way and the extent to which they digitise their construction and maintenance operations, and, just as importantly, how they harness the data that comes from them. Real benefits will come if data is shared across the sector. “This would not only bring benefits to the companies and the supply chain, but also consumers themselves.”

Taylor says the water sector has variable digital maturity:

“There are pockets of great information and data exchange, or use of 4D or drones for production controls monitoring. But on the flipside, we have SMEs operating with paper-based risk assessment method statements, or clients requiring 2D outputs as part of the data drops for asset handover. So the water sector is only as advanced as its less mature pack members, and this is where we hope the Information Management Initiative will create the disruption required to finally bring everyone to equal maturity.”

BIM4Water was one of the earliest organisations to sign up to the IMI, following its launch in November 2024. Leadership by clients will be critical to the success of the IMI, Taylor says:

“Owner-operators are recognising the need to be a capable client, able to bridge and adopt data and information exchange from capital delivery partners. This is where the united efficiencies and benefit to the sector will be realised.”

Unleashing the Power of Water Data for Public Good

In 2024, BIM4Water hosted an event called ‘Unleashing the Power of Water Data for Public Good’, to capture how all the live initiatives in the water sector integrate with other sectors like the Geospatial Commission, energy and telecommunications to create an evolving ‘knowledge graph’. The event particularly focused on development of a national digital twin, data frameworks and strategies for data sharing, as well as how to get water companies and their suppliers on board with data sharing.

For Taylor, the major focus of BIM4Water is interoperability and getting the tools and technologies talking to each other through standardised data formatting. The question of AI and its role in the sector, she says, will be minimal until the library of data that it needs to work on is in better order and the sector becomes less risk-averse. “Until then, the potential impact of AI will remain limited,” she notes.

Read the full BIMplus interview with Clare Taylor.

In August 2024, Nima argued exploitation of AI will depend on establishing strong foundations: high-quality data managed through effective data governance structures, processes and standards. Nima has also been a long-time advocate of better interoperability. Its GIIG subsidiary published an interoperability code of practice for technology providers in 2023 and has since undertaken an “interoperable procurement” project for Crown Commercial Service (January 2025 news). The establishment of clear standards for interoperability was also a key recommendation from National Cyber-Physical Infrastructure (NCPI) ecosystem workshops held in 2024 (February 2025 news).