Company: Pennon Group Plc - South West Water and Bournemouth Water

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From idea to impact: community-led water saving in action.

I help organisations turn complex challenges into clear, creative, high-impact solutions that deliver measurable outcomes. The Water Saving Community Fund is a strong example of that approach in practice.

 

The challenge
Reducing water demand and building trust within the water sector are intrinsically linked and also very complex. Traditional approaches often rely on top-down campaigns or infrastructure-led solutions. While important, these can miss the creativity, insight and motivation that already exists within communities. I believe that the opportunity for change is clear: if you want lasting water efficiency, you start with people and communities — not just broadcasting campaigns.

 

The idea
While working at Pennon Group plc, I came up with the idea for the Water Saving Community Fund and led its creation as a self-initiated project. I designed and delivered from scratch — shaping the strategy, structure and messaging to make it easy for local groups to lead practical water-saving action in ways that genuinely worked for their communities. For me, the aim was simple: create a practical, scalable model that empowered people to act, backed by funding, structure and clear measurement.

 

What I did
I led the project end-to-end, combining strategy, creativity and delivery.

• Designed the fund concept, structure and criteria from scratch

• Built the business case and secured senior buy-in

• Created the messaging, tone of voice and creative approach

• Led stakeholder engagement and launch

• Oversaw delivery, evaluation and impact reporting

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Impact
In its first year, the fund:

• Supported 22 community-led projects

• Delivered an estimated 59 million litres of water saved

• Reached tens of thousands of people through funded activity, shared learning, and positive PR

• The fund remains active today.

 

Why it matters
The Water Saving Community Fund was intentionally designed to scale. It was the first community fund at Pennon Group, and has became the blueprint for those that followed — showing how a single, well-designed model can influence wider community engagement and behavioural change initiatives. The Water Saving Community Fund was also an industry first - the only community fund solely focused to support communities to save water. Five years on, community-led water-saving funds are now common across the water sector.

 

How I work
I thrive at the intersection of strategy, creativity and delivery — spotting opportunities, shaping ideas, and getting complex projects over the line at pace. I now work freelance, helping organisations design and deliver high-impact engagement, behaviour change and communications programmes without the full-time overhead.

 

Year: 2020 - ongoing. I worked on this project whilst employed at Pennon Group Plc, the parent company of South West Water,  the intellectual property of this project belongs to Pennon Group Plc.