new-board-members-to-transform-thames-water-announced

LONDON, Aug. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the London & Valley Water consortium (“L&VW”) announces the first cohort of proposed Non-Executive Directors (“Board Members”) who would be appointed to the board of directors of Thames Water Utilities Limited (“Thames Water”) if L&VW’s proposed acquisition and recapitalisation of Thames Water proceeds.

Subject to L&VW’s proposals and the Performance Improvement and Turnaround Plan (the “Turnaround Plan”) being taken forward, and the completion of Ofwat’s onboarding process for board directors, it is proposed that these individuals will join the Thames Water board to oversee Thames Water’s 10-year turnaround and deliver a comprehensive transformation of Thames Water in the interest of customers and the public.

Thames Water requires significant new investment over the next decade to improve the resilience of its ageing network and bring performance up to the standard customers rightly expect. Infrastructure renewal has not kept pace with the increasing pressures of population growth across the regions and a changing climate; as a result, transforming Thames Water for the local communities it serves will require billions of new capital investment and a comprehensive turnaround.

To ensure all profits are reinvested in the business and assets, new investors will commit not to take any dividends for 10 years or until Thames Water is returned to the public markets through a listing on the London Stock Exchange, consistent with the Government’s aim to encourage new listings.

Strengthening the board of Thames Water is the first step. The following Board Members have been identified to help drive delivery of the Turnaround Plan:

Mike McTighe - Extensive engineering experience and strong track record in successful business transformation, leading complex corporate turnarounds in regulated sectors, including as Chairman of Openreach for the past 10 years.
Liz Barber - Highly experienced executive with over 30 years’ experience in UK regulated utilities, including senior leadership positions in Yorkshire Water as CEO and CFO. In addition to water experience, Liz is currently a non-executive director at several infrastructure companies, including HICL plc, and Chaired the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission.
Clive Selley CBE - FTSE 100 leader who served as CEO of BT Openreach for 10 years, overseeing the delivery of one of the largest capital investment programmes in the UK which supported more than 700 communications providers and connected more than 30 million premises across the country.
Dame Bernadette Kelly DCB - Former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport with expertise in public policy, regulation and infrastructure. Over decades of public service in government, she led work to reform the planning regime for major infrastructure; establish the Competition and Markets Authority; strengthen utilities regulation and corporate governance; and oversee the transport system through Brexit and COVID.

Collectively, these individuals bring critical experience across large-scale infrastructure, complex capital delivery and have led organisations of high public importance. Their specialist skills and expertise, working closely alongside Thames Water’s executive team, will ensure full focus and continued effort on progressing the operational turnaround and the successful delivery of a complex and challenging transformation of the business.

Over the past 12 months, the Board Members have been working closely with L&VW, taking part in extensive due diligence to identify the root causes of Thames Water’s problems, providing advice on the development of the Turnaround Plan, and have met with Ofwat officials. The comprehensive plan has been thoroughly scrutinised and developed with the central goal of returning Thames Water to reliable performance, achieving compliance and building a more resilient network, delivering an ambitious operational turnaround which customers, communities, regulators and investors can have confidence in.

Mike McTighe, who is leading the governance overhaul and building the new Thames Water board, said:

“The challenge at Thames Water is huge. If this recapitalisation plan is accepted, we will apply full dedication as a new board, working alongside the executive team to transform the business and build a culture in which the customers and local communities who depend on Thames Water come first.

“We will focus relentlessly on protecting public health and safety, respecting and improving the local environment, ensuring what people pay for their water is fair and the most vulnerable are protected, investing to secure clean and reliable water supplies for current and future generations, and being accountable for what we do.

“It will take time to fix Thames Water, but we are committed to rebuilding trust with the customers and public Thames Water serves.”

This 10-year transformation plan is crucial to ensuring Thames Water can develop the resilience and capacity to invest for the long-term, contribute to local growth and support economic development across the regions it serves. It will start by fixing the foundations of Thames Water’s infrastructure and addressing the root cause of critical issues such as pollution and leakage, by making significant investments including in power resilience at critical sites, sewer cleaning, and mains replacement. Over time, it will deliver significant improvements and demonstrate real progress in the areas customers and communities care about most.

The new Government has been clear that it wants to see water companies create greater place-based involvement to strengthen accountability, ensure delivery of improvements and enhance transparency for local authority leaders and communities. L&VW and the new Board Members agree that there is an opportunity to enhance the way local communities, government, regulators, and Thames Water work together, by creating opportunities for greater public involvement on critical business issues, and the Board Members are supportive of L&VW’s efforts to evaluate new public interest supervisory structures with enhanced local representation and involvement for local authorities and regional leaders, as previously announced.

Subject to the Turnaround Plan being approved, these Board Members would join the Thames Water board with a firm commitment to ensuring strong governance that is compliant with Ofwat’s current board, leadership, transparency and governance principles and to working openly and in the public interest, with strengthened oversight for regulators and transparency for local communities.

It will take time to deliver a comprehensive operational turnaround of Thames Water. Under this new plan, there will be enhanced transparency and engagement to demonstrate change from day one. The new Thames Water board will act with integrity and responsibly, acknowledging its role as custodians of crucially important public assets, and will provide the stewardship needed to rebuild public trust, starting with a fundamental reset of culture, governance, operational performance and relationships with local communities.

Notes to editors:

The L&VW consortium comprises a group of c.100 financial institutions that are senior Class A Creditors of Thames Water Utilities Limited and its group (“Thames Water”), holding over £17 billion of Thames Water’s Class A and super senior debt. The institutions include some of the largest infrastructure investors and capital providers in the UK water sector.
As previously announced, the consortium is finalising a revised proposal, following feedback from Defra and Ofwat, and intends to meet with new ministers to discuss their priorities and present the updated plan.
Thames Water will be run like a PLC, based on public company principles, from day one, with the ambition to return the company to public markets through a listing on the London Stock Exchange once the turnaround has taken effect. All governance arrangements will be compliant with Ofwat’s current board, leadership, transparency and governance principles.
These initial candidates identified will be joined by additional non-executive directors, with further searches ongoing and due to continue in the months ahead. Implementation of the L&VW proposal is dependent on a new capital structure being implemented through a court-sanctioned restructuring plan under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 (or a Part 26 scheme of arrangement if feasible).
Enhanced monitoring and reporting by a new board and bolstered management team, measured against stretching targets, will give regulators more oversight and transparency, with an independent monitor retaining the ability to evaluate the company’s operations for the duration of the turnaround.
The Board Members identified are experienced individuals who have a strong track record in leading multi-year large scale turnarounds of critical national infrastructure. Each individual proposed to be on the board has deep expertise, delivered at national scale, and is fully committed to this critical mission. Their leadership will drive an intensive operational turnaround, build a high-performance culture throughout the organisation, and return Thames Water to a stable, investable footing under long-term stewardship.
As submitted to Ofwat as part of the recapitalisation proposal, the Board Members are deeply aware that this is an important obligation and are committed to turning around Thames Water and rebuilding trust with customers, local communities and the public. To do this, they have committed to:
- Above all else, protect public health and safety;
- Ensure water bills are fair, deliver value, and support the most vulnerable;
- Secure the water supply for current and future generations of customers;
- Improve the local environment for our communities;
- Invest in people and create a culture of accountability.