Growth unlocked: new funding for investment and jobs in the North West

• Increased network capacity and resilience for a growing region
• Enable growth of new digital and low carbon industries
• Investment will create a further 4,000 jobs

United Utilities has raised £800 million from long-term UK and international investors to fund a further expansion of its BIG North West upgrade of the region’s water and wastewater infrastructure.

The new money from shareholders will help fund £2.5 billion of additional proposed investment by 2030 to ensure that the company’s networks can enable regional growth in housing and new digital and low-carbon industries.

These new plans are additional to the company’s previously announced £13.5 billion investment programme for the 2025-2030 period and will add a further 4,000 jobs to the 30,000 supported by existing plans.

Government housebuilding targets for the North West have increased by 66,000 homes since the current programme was agreed in 2024, and new demand is also emerging from expanding industries such as data centres and clean energy.

All of these will need reliable, resilient water supplies and wastewater services to enable economic growth and accelerate the transition to a low carbon, digitally-driven economy.

The new plans include an initial package of about £1.4 billion of proposed investments which have been submitted to Ofwat, the industry regulator, for review. These include:

• c. £220 million non-potable water supply to the Hynet clean energy cluster in Ellesmere Port
• c. £200 million for new water infrastructure to support proposed data centres in East Manchester, helping power the region’s growing digital economy
• c. £350m for new wastewater treatment capacity at 34 sites to support 100,000 people, supporting Government housebuilding targets and existing communities
• c. £410m to increase resilience of existing assets including upgrading boreholes and refurbishing water storage facilities

Lou Beardmore, United Utilities Chief Executive, said: “It’s crucial that we can support regional growth with reliable, resilient services, and that’s why we have asked our shareholders to help fund this further BIG North West upgrade of the region’s water and wastewater infrastructure.

“We are proud that the fundraising was strongly supported by shareholders from Melbourne to Merseyside, providing us with new capital to put to work in communities across the North West.”

The submission to Ofwat, which has the support of key regional stakeholders, will now be reviewed by the regulator, with a draft decision expected in August and a final decision in December.