Senior Management Team
KEITH SILCOCK - Creator of alternative water supply services
Keith has been a business owner and operator since 1979 and founded Water Direct in 1996. He has since focussed entirely on the development of this comprehensive alternative water supply and management service to create a nationwide ‘one call does it all’ facility.
From a background in building services and environmental engineering, including design, project management, installation and commissioning activities, he diversified his businesses into water treatment before focussing entirely on water supply. His vision and hands on approach in this market has driven and steered Water Direct to become a well respected support service within the UK Water Utility and commercial sectors. Keith’s past experience guides the company in being able to provide complete engineering solutions to any alternative water supply scenario. He oversees the running of the countries premier alternative and emergency water supplier, which delivers wholesome potable water in its fleet of dedicated drinking water tankers, on time, every time.
Keith represents Water Direct in the public arena, speaking and presenting at water and business continuity related conferences, seminars and workshops. He maintains direct dialogue with Water Industry Regulatory bodies to ensure that Water Direct activity provides best practice solutions within the regulatory frameworks.
NICOLA SILCOCK - Bottled water specialist
Nicola joined Water Direct early in 1997 to develop the systems and processes associated with management of quality assured bottled water as an emergency water supply. This included creating a water safety plan structure from ‘catchment to customer’ so that all water provided could be demonstrated to conform to the Public Water Supply Regulations at time of deployment.
Nicola developed and manages the entire Nationwide Bottled Water Bank structure of Water Direct dealing with multiple source production, logistics, diversified storage, quality assurance and monitoring, planned and emergency water deployment processes and client interface management. Bottled Water Bank members range from single pallet deposits for local Fire & Rescue teams through to 150+ pallet deposits for Major Water Undertakers. Much is also undertaken for end users who call us out of the blue, requiring quality assured bottled water in a hurry. Response times are typically within 4 hours, some have been less than 90 minutes.
Nicola has pioneered the specifications, methodology and accumulation of data relative to the quality expectations and results of bottled water held in long term storage. Research is on-going into pushing the boundaries in this critical resource, in parallel to planning for major and widespread incident escalations. She also manages the wholesale bottled water side of our business, where clients can enjoy wholesale bottled water delivered directly to their site or event / festival.
GRAEME CLISSOLD - Contractual water delivery
A Chartered Management Accountant with 20 years experience of operating at director level in the fields of property management, interim management and general management, for SME’s and PLC’s. Graeme has significant experience managing change and corporate restructuring, financial systems implementations, project management and logistics.
Graeme joined the Board of Water Direct in 2006 with a focus on financial and resource management. His responsibilities have included; ensuring that Water Direct operates efficiently and cost effectively and is resourced to fulfil all contractual commitments, primarily within the water utility sector. A lateral thinker, Graeme confers frequently with clients to create and sustain attractive and beneficial solutions, negotiating appropriate contract terms for required service response levels.
RICHARD CONNOR - The water supplier
With a strong background in providing customer focussed solutions, Richard ran his own business within the construction sector before joining Water Direct in 2006. Richard heads up the Commercial side of our water delivery service which provides planned and emergency alternative water supply solutions, including business continuity and contingency planning, direct to our own clients and customers of water utilities. This represents a major part of Water Direct’s day to day activity - while waiting for a major emergency to happen!
Richard’s background in running a business in a very tough and competitive market place makes him determined and well equipped to get the job done; efficiently and effectively. His responsibilities cover not only winning the business and satisfying the client’s needs but scheduling our own operatives, water tanker, water tank and water bowser hire deliveries, and often diverse outsourced support, to deliver our heavy and awkward product in the most cost efficient manner. Our level of repeat business and the accolades received from satisfied clients is testimony to Richard’s abilities in this sector.
OLIVER SILCOCK - Temporary water storage and water tanker quality assurance
Oliver joined Water Direct early in 2003 learning every aspect of the business from the ground up. His background in R&D and quality assurance in a high output production facility supports the diligence required in managing our drinking water resources. His attention to detail and persistence ensures that everything he undertakes is carried through and completed correctly.. He manages the Water Direct Alternative Water Container Bank. This comprises all the emergency water supply assets, such as temporary water storage tanks, water tankers and water bowsers and other resources relative to vessel maintenance, delivery and operation and incorporates drinking water storage vessels approaching 2 million litres in total capacity.
Oliver’s responsibility is to ensure that each water tanker, water bowser, water tank and ancillary equipment owned by us and held under our stewardship on behalf of water utility clients are maintained fit for purpose and prepared ready for immediate deployment. This includes logging and tracking so that a ‘passport’ exists for audit of every vessel, recording maintenance, disinfection, sampling results, locations and usage. He also carries the mantle for Health & Safety, COSHH and Risk Assessments, Method Statements and operational Procedures.
He is our in-house and external trainer for procedures and EUSR-National Water Hygiene Scheme Certification and in his spare time is on the rota for Incident Manager,
supervising minor and major incident responses both from office base and in the field.
VINCE EVE - Water tanker fleet manager
Vince came to Water Direct from a career in heavy goods transportation management toward the end of 2004. He is our CPC holder for Goods Vehicle Operator Licensing and has the responsibility of ensuring that our fleet of dedicated drinking water operational vehicles, from fast response vans to our rigid water tanker fleet and 44 tonne drinking water tankers, are fit for purpose, functional, safe and legal at all times; night and day.
Vince manages our core team of Field Technicians, all of whom are cross trained so that each can undertake any of the operational activities of Water Direct safely, competently and on time. He is our ‘mobile manager’ who ensures that all our operational depots and sub-contracted support services are functioning efficiently and able to respond 24/365 to any situation requiring an emergency water supply.
And when the serious alarm bells ring he is our on-site Ambassador to make sure deliveries are successfully achieved and the client is happy; sometimes under very challenging circumstances, stretching his skills in diplomacy as well as logistics.
