GDS: Going global

GDS: GOING

Our projects might be UK based, but that doesn’t mean our whole team is. 2020 saw the strengthening of our links with the Mott MacDonald Global Delivery Services (GDS) team in Mumbai, India.

The GDS is Mott MacDonald’s global design resource, based in offices in India and Eastern Europe. The Mumbai office is home to specialists in the water sector who have become an integral part of the MMB team.

The link began in 2016 with six colleagues supporting projects in the UK; in 2020 that number had grown to 38 as valuable design work was delivered for projects across our water sector frameworks. These included:

PHOSPHOROUS SCHEMES IN SEVERN TRENT: GDS led four, providing multi-disciplinary designs that included chemical dosing, tertiary solids removal and biofilters, all with the aim of removing phosphorous during the wastewater treatment process. See more in the case study on p34.

COLLABORATION WITH @ONE: A specialist Integrated Global Delivery Team (IGDT) has delivered eight schemes to date, which included BIM support.

DRAINAGE AND WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT PLANS IN NORTHUMBRIAN WATER: GDS delivered Baseline Risk And Vulnerability Assessments (BRAVAs) for 150 catchments, redesigning processes to increase efficiency, saving 20 hours’ work per medium-size catchment. The team displays all the traits of a great MMB team: • Safety culture: reporting 150+ positive interventions. • Driving efficiencies: making £90k of commercial savings by standardising products, re-using designs and sharing learning. • Driving excellence: by participating in the water sector Practice networks to share knowledge globally. • Digital by default: driving five digital initiatives, including running pilots of Moata Rehearsive and Moata Intelligent Content. • Looking after their people: wellbeing sessions, check-ins and engagement activities to bring the team together

Although face-to-face visits weren’t possible in 2020, video collaboration is the norm for GDS so the ‘one team’ approach between MMB UK and India only grew stronger. We’re excited to collaborate more as AMP7 begins in earnest in 2021.

GDS is an amazing part of the MMB team. It’s great to see the relationship go from strength to strength. The team’s energy and enthusiasm, coupled with its multidisciplinary and digital expertise, make it a strong fit within MMB and provides us with the opportunity to really expand the use of the team to add even greater value for our clients. Nick Fawcett, Design Director