Details
WATER MANAGEMENT Smart Classes show key buyer side stakeholders how deploying the latest digital technology-enabled solutions, data-driven strategies, policies and best practices can help manage the distribution and management of water resources across our cities and regions, and also offers utilities and authorities an opportunity to improve efficiency and service, whilst reducing water scarcity and supporting the drive towards a net zero future.
Qualifying delegates include commissioning, procurement, innovation, infrastructure design, trialling and partnering leads, senior influencers, strategic decision makers, environmental managers, catchment managers/developers, asset managers, policy makers and planners from UK water companies and utilities, wastewater and sewer operators, lead local flood authorities (unitary authorities and county councils), city/borough/metropolitan councils, district councils, combined authorities, internal drainage boards, regional flood & coastal committees, highways authorities, prime contractors, general insurers, large water consumers, national agencies, central governmental and regulatory bodies (e.g. Defra, DCLG, Ofwat, Environment Agency, DWI, SEPA), independent industry and consumer organisations (e.g. Water UK, CCW), river trusts, NGOs etc.
Core themes range from smart leakage detection and miniaturisation of sensors, smarter pressure management, asset tracking and connected water operations, modelling and simulation (incl. digital twins), the water company of the future, smart water gully maintenance and utilising smart meters effectively, to water catchment and rainwater harvesting systems, digital apps and platforms for demand management, incentivising behavioural change, smart telemetry systems for managing flood risk, sustainable drainage systems, smart sewers and wastewater management, innovations in water purification, smart billing and payments, harnessing AI for automation of customer engagement, and using real-time analytics and drones for monitoring water quality and mapping assets.
Following on from the critically acclaimed editions that we hosted in Leeds (2025), London (2024) and Birmingham (2022), WATER MANAGEMENT Smart Class 2026 takes place at The Radnor Rooms, Bristol on Tuesday 3rd November!

Delegates will hear from industry movers, shapers and disruptors during initial rapid-fire thought leadership presentations, before moving on to in-depth consultations with experts and peers during the roundtable discussions. In addition, this Smart Class will feature at least 3 senior keynote presentations giving real world insight into collaborative initiatives, digital journeys and adoptions of emerging, transformative technologies. This half day in-person event is free to attend for bona fide delegates satisfying our registration criteria.
Previous Water Management Smart Classes have attracted stakeholders such as:
Previous presentations addressed the following topics:
Testimonials and feedback:
Head of Innovation, Northumbrian Water
“Really enjoyed this session, thanks to Smart Classes for coming to Leeds and bringing so many excellent delegates together. Lots of learning for me personally and things to take back to both my role at Leeds City Council and WYFLIP. Great to see old friends and meet new people doing really exciting things around the country. Very well structured and organised”
Executive Manager – Flood & Climate Resilience, Leeds City Council/WYFLIP Programme Manager, West Yorkshire Flood Innovation Programme/Board Member, Aire Resilience Company/Member of Leeds Climate Commission and Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission
“My pleasure to join you and discuss all things DWI. I enjoyed all the talks and discussions as well as networking over lunch, and the decent lunch!”
Chief Inspector, Drinking Water Inspectorate
“It was absolutely superb. And what a cracking location – the building was beautiful! You ought to be very proud of the impact you are making”
Senior Demand Strategy Manager for Pennon Group, South West Water
“What a great line-up”…“For me, this is one of the most exciting things about joining the innovation team at Yorkshire Water – learning and improving collaboratively across the industry, focusing on sustainability”
Innovation Project Manager, Yorkshire Water
“Really happy that I made time to attend today. Thanks to all the presenters and Smart Classes”
Senior FCRM Advisor, Environment Agency
“Overall great event and venue”…“Relevance to my current role in flood management”
Senior Project Manager, Staffordshire County Council & Waterman Aspen
“Great to attend this Smart Class focussed on Water Management. A compact conference with really interesting and diverse speakers, giving us food for thought”
Partnerships and Projects Manager, Calder Rivers Trust
“Valuable insights into a different way of operations”
Chairman, Aire Rivers Trust
“It was a great session! Thank you. What an inspiration, and I met some very interesting people from the industry. Let’s have a follow up”
Principal Urban Designer and Landscape Architect – Regional Design Lead, Sustrans
“It was certainly an enjoyable event, keep up the good work”
Data Asset Portfolio Manager, Northumbrian Water
“I really enjoyed it! Such a great opportunity to attend”
Innovation Team Member, Northumbrian Water
“Helpful programme content, informative presentations and excellent opportunities to network”
Demand Strategy Manager, South West Water
“Very informative”
Flood Risks Project and Planning Officer, Staffordshire County Council
“Engaging roundtable discussions”
Senior Engineer, Sustrans
“Fantastic event! Great diversity of attending organisations, which led to new connections and good discussion”
Strategic Innovation and Shop Window Lead, Anglian Water Services
“Thanks for the opportunity to share our experiences. The roundtables were very informative with some great conversations. Happy to support any future events”
Head of Smart Water, Anglian Water Services
“Thanks for the invite. The interesting content and a diverse group of attendees made for some very good roundtable discussions”
Smart Water Strategy Manager, SES Water
“Thanks for having me. It was a great event with some excellent speakers”
Project Manager – Innovative Flood Resilience, East Sussex County Council/Project Manager, Blue Heart
“The programme content was helpful and relevant. Informative presentations, engaging roundtable discussions…and I found alternative approaches to improve community engagement and behavioural change especially valuable”
Senior Technical Project Manager – Water, Drainage, Resilience and Urban Planning, Greater London Authority (GLA)
“Smart Classes (format) was a great way of presenting and I found all of the roundtables equally valuable”
Project Officer – Flood & Water Management Team, Hertfordshire County Council
“Excellent organisation. Chatting to all of the other delegates in the roundtables was most valuable”
Senior Flood Risk Officer, Hertfordshire County Council
“An excellent event. Thank you for bringing it to my attention”
Head of Water Efficiency and Demand Management, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
“Thanks a lot for inviting me. It was a fantastic event and I look forward to joining the next sessions”
Head of Rivers and Seas, Water UK
“My colleagues attended the event and got a lot out of it”
Policy Director, Water UK
“It was an enjoyable morning. Thanks again for accommodating me”
Chair of BIM4Water Skills and Culture Task Group, BIM4Water at British Water
“Excellent event. Would recommend Smart Classes to colleagues”
Principal Climate Change and Sustainability Officer, Environment Agency (EA)
“Thank you very much for the conference yesterday. I got a lot of value from the session…definitely worth the time invested”
Development Director, Horizon Energy Infrastructure
“Excellent seminar for knowledge sharing and networking with a wide range of industry experts. Great to hear about open, collaborative projects which encourage true innovation…excellent discussion on how industry can be better joined up and how we motivate the public to care for water”
Partner & Flood Risk Management Lead, Ridge and Partners
“Thanks for the opportunity to keynote. I really enjoyed it and hope to see you again in the future”
Control and Automation Architect, Asset Intelligence and Innovation, Severn Trent
“A great day today in Birmingham attending a Water Management Smart Class run by Smart Classes. There was a range of interesting keynote speakers and innovators from the Environment Agency, Project Centre, Severn Trent and many more. Personal highlights included James Ballard’s presentation on how Artificial Intelligence is transforming water networks, alongside Tom de la Rosa who highlighted key areas of EA funding and Jed Ramsay who presented Project Groundwater. Thanks for facilitating a great day. As a relatively new member of the Water Industry it was great to connect with so many new faces”
Flood and Coastal Risk Consultant, Binnies
“Many thanks for the chance to speak yesterday. It was a really well run event”
Flood and Coastal Innovation Programmes Manager, Environment Agency
“Excellent event. Digital innovation for flood warnings and management of particular interest”
Head of Strategic Networks, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
“Great to join the Smart Water Management knowledge exchange today”
Chair of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) Water Reuse & Finish Group
“Thanks for hosting us yesterday. I thought it was an excellent event and I was really pleased to be able to speak. The format is excellent too (timings, venue, food, roundtable discussions). Will certainly be recommending to colleagues in the future”
Project Groundwater Programme Manager, Strategic Flood Management Team, Buckinghamshire Council
“Very well presented and put together. I will definitely be in attendance again”
Senior Business Development Manager SMSTS, Quest Waste Management
“Good event – informative on transferable skills”
Regional Operations Manager – Pumping, Yorkshire Water
“It was a pleasure to attend and a very useful event”
Place Strategy Manager, Nottinghamshire County Council
“This was an interesting event today by Smart Classes. All of the presentations and roundtable discussions were valuable and topics such as digital transformation (of the water industry) and flood management were most interesting”
Research Fellow in Hydro Informatics, University of Exeter
“Thank you for having me today, Smart Classes. It was a very informative and educative conference”
Energy & Sustainability Advisor, CBRE
“It was a great event and very well organised. Congratulations!”
Project Manager, Strategic Flood Management Team, Buckinghamshire Council
“I was fortunate to present at the Water Management 2024 Smart Class today. Had interesting conversations with so many different professionals working around one major aspect of the urban infrastructure – Water! There was an unlimited flow of knowledge in the room and many interesting concerns for discussion. All of the roundtables were informative. What struck me was the multifaceted nature of urban infrastructure. Even while focusing on just one aspect (water), it has so many hats, and every professional in the room brought a different lens to the table”
Senior Urban Designer, Project Centre, part of Marston Holdings (Innovation Sponsor)
“Excellent event. Enjoyed the format and information, and lessons learnt from the keynotes were most valuable”
Principal Landscape Architect, Project Centre, part of Marston Holdings (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thank you for the opportunity. I really enjoyed the presentations and the roundtable discussions were very insightful too. We are dedicated to fostering meaningful partnerships between water companies, local authorities, communities, and stakeholders. By working together, we can harness the power of digital solutions as enablers of change, propelling us towards a more sustainable and resilient future”
Co-Founder & COO (now CEO), Our Rainwater (Innovation Sponsor)
“Another fantastic conference by Smart Classes and a great opportunity for me to share my knowledge and expertise. I presented the concepts of interconnected systems and national digital twins, focussing attention on the benefits for the water sector and how data flow and information management will be key in tackling modern day water challenges. Thank you for letting me share and learn amongst our sector peers”
Global BIM Manager at Xylem & Past Chair of BIM4Water (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thanks to the Smart Classes team for organising a great workshop with a wide range of stakeholders!”
Commercial Director, Metasphere (Innovation Sponsor)
“Huge thanks to Smart Classes for hosting the Water Management Smart Class event yesterday. It was great to provide insight to the sector wide work BIM4Water are collaborating on and hopefully we have gained some new members”
National Rehearsal Lead at MWH Treatment & Chair of BIM4Water (Innovation Sponsor)
“An excellent event experience. Helpful programme content, engaging roundtable discussions, excellent opportunities to network…and all of the presentations were good, providing different perspectives”
Green Valley Group (Innovation Sponsor)
“It was fantastic to meet so many at the Water Management Smart Class yesterday, where F. Javier Soto and myself presented on how sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) can mitigate flood risk and the impacts of climate change. We referred to our recent South Chingford flood mitigation scheme, developed for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It was great to learn from the great work of others in the industry and to see so much interest in how our sustainable approach has significantly reduced flood risks whilst providing an opportunity to improve biodiversity and enhance water quality”
Technical Director, Project Centre (Innovation Sponsor)
“Excellent event, organisation and facilities”
Principal Civil Engineer, Project Centre (Innovation Sponsor)
“It was a pleasure to present in person today at the Water Management Smart Class with my colleagues at BIM4Water and 4D BIM and Beyond. It is an exciting time to be in the water industry, seeing the digital transformation taking place”
BIM Coordinator at Binnies & Chair of BIM4Water’s 4D BIM and Beyond Task Group (Innovation Sponsor)
“It was a pleasure to speak at the Water Management Smart Class in Leeds this week, sharing how we’re using small-scale SuDS interventions to tackle flood risk while creating spaces that communities can enjoy and take pride in. I presented our work at Memorial Park and introduced an exciting scheme currently under construction at Belvue Park, showing how integrated, nature-based solutions can deliver both climate resilience and meaningful co-benefits. Thank you to the organisers Smart Classes for bringing together such a great group of speakers and attendees – the roundtable discussions were full of insightful questions and conversations”
Assistant Flood Risk Engineer, Project Centre, part of Marston Holdings (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thanks for this amazing event. I learned a lot and gained so much knowledge”
Marketing Coordinator, Andel (Innovation Sponsor Guest)
“We are honoured to be part of the Water Management Smart Class 2025. This event will be pivotal in driving forward innovative and sustainable solutions in water management”
Siemens Smart Infrastructure (Innovation Sponsor)
“We had some interesting discussions in the roundtables, and I learnt something about analogies between water and highways too. Keen to see how we can get better at finding those conditions that impact Coliform CRI if we can get a coalition of the willing to agree for their data to be used”
Industry Strategy Director: Water and Wastewater Software, Siemens (Innovation Sponsor)
“In glorious Leeds for a Smart Class session on Water Management alongside my Siemens colleague and water expert Adam Cartwright. Enjoyed learning more on clean water, BIM and hearing Angela MacOscar talk about innovation – understanding the similar challenges we have across sectors of climate change, aging assets, skills and customer expectations. Was happy to talk about Asset Lifecycle Management and how rainfall predictions can help our clients manage flood risks and extend the useful life of assets”
General Manager & UK Country Lead, Brightly, A Siemens Company (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thank you, Smart Classes! Great event. Pleased to support”
Global BIM Manager, Xylem/Chair – Water Data Taskforce, BIM4Water (Innovation Sponsor)
“And it’s a wrap! I have enjoyed presenting today on behalf of BIM4Water on Digital Twins, alongside my fellow Task group Chair Jamie Mills of the Water Data Task group. Thanks to Smart Classes”
Senior BIM Coordinator on HS2, Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture/Chair, Beyond 4D Task Group, BIM4Water (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thanks to Smart Classes for hosting Water Management Smart Class 2025. The water@leeds team enjoyed sharing their collaborative experience on Water Research, Flooding and Peatlands”
Head of water@leeds, Research Fellow and KTP Associate & Environmental Engineer, water@leeds, University of Leeds (Innovation Sponsor)
Speakers
Opening keynote presentation from Helen Wakeham. Helen is Director of Water at the Environment Agency and most recently led the transformation of the EA’s regulation of the water industry: Presentation title & summary description to follow!
“Smart Water Solutions in a Rapidly Changing World” – The water industry in the UK is currently facing huge challenges in meeting the required water leakage reduction targets. Failing to meet these targets not only mean significant financial penalties for water companies but also impacts the water industry’s ability to meet the nearly 5 billion litres/day supply deficit predicted by 2050.
Whilst first seen in 2022/23, the increasing recurrence of long hot summers and freeze/thaw events in the winter has meant that pipes previously thought to be sound are now failing catastrophically as a result of ground movement. To respond to this challenge, the water industry needs to fast track urgent research on these types of failures, collaborate on solutions and develop better models to understand the potential cost implications.
Pennon Innovation Manager Jeremy Heath leads clean water innovation for South West Water, Bournemouth Water, Bristol Water and SES Water. He is also UKWIR programme lead on leakage, responsible for coordinating and managing the national research into water leakage reduction.
In this keynote, Jeremy will provide a short introduction into the issues companies are facing as a result of these climate related burst events. Jeremy will also explore:
- How water companies are successfully collaborating on leakage solutions.
- Understanding the impacts, knowledge gaps and current research projects.
- The role of smart solutions in managing climate related burst events.
Keynote presentation on behalf of The Rivers Trust from Technical Director Michelle Walker, covering the highly collaborative Ofwat Innovation-Funded CaSTCo (Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative) project, CaBA (Catchment Based Approach) Open Data Portal, Monitoring & Modelling, Nature-based Solutions (NbS), using Data-Driven insights to highlight issues around Sewage Pollution, importance of Standards etc: Presentation title & summary description to follow!
Keynote presentation on the award-winning Devon Resilience Innovation Project (DRIP) – part of the National Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme – and its key role in improving resilience to flooding for communities across Devon: Update – Our original speaker Gale Alexander (DRIP Project Manager at Devon County Council) will no longer be able to join us on Nov 3rd but is currently exploring the possibility of a senior flood resilience project colleague delivering this 4th keynote in her place.
“Beyond Consultation: Turning Public Observations into Environmental Intelligence” – Citizen science has the potential to provide environmental teams with far more than opinions and feedback. By making it easy for people to contribute observations from the places they live, work and visit, organisations can gather location-specific information, photographs, local knowledge and real-world environmental conditions at a scale that would be difficult to achieve through traditional monitoring alone.
This presentation on behalf of Hello Lamp Post will showcase how the Environment Agency is using Hello Environment to engage thousands of people across major environmental projects, and explores how conversational AI and location-aware technology can take large-scale citizen science even further. From water quality and bathing waters to coastal change, flooding and biodiversity, David Worsell (Head of Commercial) will look at how public participation can generate structured, location-specific environmental intelligence.
Innovator presentation on behalf of Asset Management Consultancy GVG focused around “A smarter approach to asset care and maintenance”, “Transforming water industry performance” and “Achieving operational resilience and regulatory compliance”: Presentation title & summary description + speaker profile to follow!
Further presentations to be announced shortly!
Agenda
- 8:30 am - 9:00 am Registration, Networking and Refreshments
- 9:00 am - 9:30 am Introduction and Opening Keynote
- 9:30 am - 10:40 am Expert Innovator Presentations
- 10:40 am - 11:00 am Keynote Speaker 2
- 11:00 am - 12:40 pm Roundtable Discussions and Consultations
- 12:40 pm - 1:00 pm Keynote Speaker 3
- 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Close and Lunch Networking































