From the largest lake in Northern Europe to the future of the UK's water: inside our AMP8 work with Yorkshire Water

Kielder Water holds around 200 billion litres, which makes it the largest artificial lake in Northern Europe. One of the most significant projects our water team is now working on is exploring how water from Kielder could be transferred to support both the Yorkshire Water and United Utilities regions. It is a genuine step toward a more connected, more resilient national water system, one where water can be shared across regions rather than stopping at a line on a map. 

That project is part of a wider framework appointment: AtkinsRéalis has been chosen to support Yorkshire Water in delivering a major programme of investment and infrastructure through AMP8. For anyone thinking about where to build a career in water, it is worth understanding what that actually involves, because the answer is a lot. 

The full journey, not one slice of it

Our teams support these schemes from early feasibility all the way through to construction. That means carrying out surveys and modeling, developing business cases, taking designs through to a construction‑ready stage, and supporting construction and commissioning. It is the kind of breadth that is hard to find in one place: you can follow a project from a first question on a whiteboard to something being built in the ground. 

Work that matters, at scale 

The schemes in the framework are strategic, complex, and genuinely important. They are about strengthening long‑term water security, improving water quality, reducing pollution, and building resilience to drought, so a region can meet the demands placed on it in the decades ahead. A few of the projects our people are working on: 

• Kielder Transfer Strategic Resource Option, exploring how one of the country's largest reservoirs can support two regions at once. 
  Bradford Water Supply Resilience (Chellow 2), a pathfinder project shaping how major infrastructure schemes are developed and delivered. 
  South Yorkshire Sources, a strategic resource project to replace the Upper Derwent Valley supply and strengthen long‑term security in South Yorkshire. 
  Nottinghamshire Mine Water Treatment, exploring how water from former mines could be treated for public supply, creating a new resource while helping manage contamination from the region's mining past.