The Drainage Hub
Unblocking a drainage dilemma
It’s clean, fresh and inviting – not what you’d associate with blocked drains! Yet that’s exactly how the Drainage Hub has been described and now it’s up for an innovation award less than two weeks after it launched.
The portal is the solution to a problem identified in relation to a change in Government legislation on drainage issues...a social network for drainage stakeholders.
Three companies with a broad range of complementary skill sets worked in partnership to develop the application battling aggressive timescales as changes to the law were being introduced on October 1st – and the project only launched in July.
Water and Sewerage Companies have now taken legal ownership for the repair and maintenance of pipework beyond property boundaries, previously the responsibility of homeowners.
Sam Warren, Managing Director of UK Drainage Protocol (UKDP), identified the need for stakeholders involved in the process to communicate in a one-stop-shop environment as repairs often involve Local Authorities, contractors, water companies, insurers and regulatory bodies.
She drew an image of a hub in the centre of a page of A4 paper and called in her web designers, Clever Little Design Agency, to help develop her proposed solution which she describes as a LinkedIn-style platform for drainage issues.
Realising that it was more than a website but an application that was required, Clever Little Design’s Owner, Steve Boyce, sourced Liquid Modules as the right software development company in Berkshire to work with to build the system.
After taking an initial spec, Andrew Birt, Managing Director of Liquid Modules, proposed his business model which ‘de-risks’ the client – pay a small fee for a prototype which will then be refined to develop the final product rather than commit up front to tens of thousands of pounds without having a clear idea of how the system will work.
UKDP accepted the deal, Clever Little Design approached Liquid Modules who developed the wireframes and built the prototype of a hub which Clever Little Design then styled and branded. With nothing similar in the market, there was no system to replicate so the Hub was developed from scratch.
With a working model, refinements could then be made to a tangible product quicker than relying on mental concepts and diagrams.
Staff from the three companies worked tirelessly to meet the deadline which they all agreed posed the biggest challenge to the project’s successful roll-out.
Sam and her team at UKDP knew the sections they wanted to see on the Drainage Hub and wrote the text, Steve and his team at Clever Little Design worked on developing the brand and designed the clean look and feel of the site and Andrew and his three software development colleagues at Liquid Modules dedicated their time to building the system using Microsoft technology, writing in ASP.Net using an SQL Server.
All three companies are based in Berkshire – UKDP and Clever Little Design in Maidenhead and Liquid Modules in Reading - so regular face to face ‘polish and review’ meetings were feasible. Daily contact was maintained remotely to ensure they all stayed on track with the process as Liquid Modules ‘glued everything together’.
The Drainage Hub went live just ahead of its October 1st deadline and allows stakeholders in the drainage industry to connect, communicate and collaborate on projects.
A unique feature of the Hub is that it maps drainage problems across the UK with its hotspot feature and allows stakeholders to add files relating to specific problem areas, communicate via an internal email platform created by Liquid Modules, or assign their contact details to a job.
Software developer Andrew, who built a series of systems into one application, said: ‘We were up against a software package you could buy off the shelf but we said they could buy that and get half of their requirements fulfilled or come to us to get exactly what they needed for the same money.’
Our skills together made it look like a simple concept and design to the end user. Not seeing the hard work behind the system that makes it work is a skill in itself. We make applications look simple and effective but is capable of complex activity.
‘The biggest challenge we faced was not technological, it was the aggressive timeline we were facing – beginning work in July to beat a deadline of the change in legislation on October 1st.’
‘It was a massive job but we managed to hit it.’
Sam said: ‘It would have taken a year or two working in a corporate environment to create the end product but as three small companies we could work closely together in a short timeframe.’
‘When it went live I looked at the piece of paper and found it is a better version of what I pictured after the fine tuning. It is 90 per cent as I drew it and the rest is much better!’
‘The Drainage Hub is a good example of three organisations and skills sets coming together to develop a great platform.’
Steve said: ‘A lot of the people in the drainage industry are not used to working on social media platforms and would be easily scared off. We knew it had to be easy to use.’
‘It looks clean, fresh and simple – we wanted to offset the fact we are talking about blocked drains!’
‘It was phenomenal what we achieved together in such a short time.’
The Drainage Hub is nominated for an innovation award at the Water Dragons’ Award Ceremony being held in Leamington Spa on 17 October 2011.
If we can help you, please contact us
Contact Us
< Back to Home