Through the British Standards Institution, BTU was certified with OHSAS 18001 (occupational health and safety management standard), ISO 14001 (environmental management standard), and ISO 9001 (quality management system).

David Welch, BTU's Framework Director, said: “The hat-trick of accreditations are significant because they give customers, suppliers and employees of BTU a benchmark assurance that our operational standards and business processes are on a par with the best in the water industry.”

“It can take well-established companies years to achieve these critically-acclaimed accreditations, but, as a new entity, BTU has had to develop its own best-in-class procedures in order to rightly meet the client's exacting standards.”

He added: “The achievements are all down to the hard work and diligence of all our staff, from everyone in the offices and out on operational sites, ensuring that the service we provide is underpinned by the best standards and procedures available. We also anticipate hiring up to a further 50 people on operational duty by December due to expansion.”

All three accreditations relate to the provision of planned and reactive maintenance services within sewerage and clean water processing and distribution works, as well as the project management and delivery of water-associated capital works programs.

BTU was formed as a standalone company in 2009 by two of the UK's leading civil engineering contractors, West Midlands-based Barhale and Southampton's Trant, and takes its title from their initials and the word ‘utilities‘.

In July that year the firm was awarded a multi-services framework for mechanical and electrical works in Hampshire and West Sussex in the west of Southern Water's region, including at hundreds of treatment works and pumping stations and an open framework for sewerage contracts. BTU recently marked its first anniversary with a double celebration - the RoSPA Gold Award and a capital works contract in West Sussex to create a water supply that should fulfil the needs of 100,000 households.

The 12-month project will develop a fresh source of water from the River Arun at Hardham, eight miles north-east of Arundel, to complement existing flow from the River Rother. Southern Water implemented the contract, in consultation with the Environment Agency and Natural England, after identifying that demand in the area could potentially exceed supply during future water droughts.

The scheme will enable Southern Water to pump up to 10 million litres of water a day from the Arun, which will be vital during times of low flow in the Rother. To enable the extra capacity, BTU is laying a mile of pipeline to the existing Hardham Water Supply Works and building both a raw water storage pond near the Arun and a pumping station.

The company is also engaged on a requisition contract at Bells Lane Hoo in Kent to provide outlets for foul and surface water from a housing development. In a further project, BTU is supplying services to improve odour control in the water sewerage network at Horsham.