Blog: Why asset vesting is so important

13 August 2021
Elaine Meikle, Project Manager in the Asset Vesting team

Asset vesting is one of the newest strings we’ve added to our bow to support the developer community.

Elaine Meikle, Project Manager, plays an important part in ensuring the success of our projects and has worked across a number of teams in Scottish Water before bringing her skill and expertise to Scottish Water Horizons.

“I joined Scottish Water five years ago after being made redundant from my previous job in customer and compliance management. Initially I joined their Project Vesting team on a temporary contract to help with a backlog of unvested assets. These assets had been built by developers and needed work to bring them up to spec so that Scottish Water could safely vest them. I then made the leap into Scottish Water Horizons as Project Coordinator. A year later I was promoted to Project Manager in the Asset Vesting team, which is where I am now.

So what is asset vesting?

“For those that don’t know, vesting is a term used by Scottish Water when legally taking ownership of water and waste water assets built by developers. When these assets are initially designed, the developer sends them to Scottish Water for technical approval. Once the asset is built, it’s inspected to ensure it meets these standards. If it doesn’t then that’s where we come in – we work with developers to understand why the asset wasn’t vested and complete the work required to bring it up to scratch.

“Vesting is important because it helps protect the integrity of Scottish Water’s network. Unvested assets stay the responsibility of developers until they’re remediated which can be costly and problematic – especially as developers don’t necessarily have the resources available to manage any issues that arise.

“With a backlog of unvested assets out there, it’s our job to help! A ‘regular’ day for me usually means juggling a lot of plates – from dealing with different enquiries, managing ongoing projects and providing information and quotes for new work there’s never a dull moment.

Teamwork makes the dream work

“Like everyone else, we’re all still feeling the challenges presented by Covid – I wasn’t with Horizons long when the first lock-down happened so building new relationships internally and externally was a little harder than usual. It was a very strange time to be joining a new team and having to get to know people over the phone and via email.

“Unvested assets can be a real headache for developers and Scottish Water so I’m really proud of the work we do having such a lasting positive impact – it’s a nice feeling to know I’ve played an important part in it all.”

Elaine Meikle, Project Manager

“Thankfully I’ve had a really positive experience with lots of help and support from my team, but I’m looking forward to a time when I can meet in person those colleagues I’ve only met through a computer screen!

“Getting assets vested is definitely a team effort – I feel really fortunate to have a great bunch of people around me and I’ve built valuable relationships with my Scottish Water colleagues which all helps in delivering successful projects for our customers.”

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