Helping United Utilities develop powerful customer engagement material, across print, digital, animation and film.

To help people understand the challenges faced when building such a colossal pipeline, we developed a touchscreen puzzle game, where sections of pipe must be linked up to build a linked up network, without disturbing natural habitats, towns and villages and mountainous regions. And for smaller children, we also built a table top board game, that highlighted ways to save water in the home. Complete with mini toilet plunger player counters, the game was as educational as it was fun!

United Utilities have always had a special affinity with the Lake District, and the visitor centre also provided an opportunity to document the history of this relationship – most notably the building of the Thirlmere Aqueduct, supplying Manchester with water for the last 100 years, and many more years to come.

We produced a series of short documentary films to tell this story – a mammoth 96 mile aqueduct built between 1890 and 1925 to serve the growing demand for water in post-industrial revolution Manchester.

The films featured animated cinemagraph images – where archive photography of the construction of the aqueduct were brought to life with subtle animation, and creating a three dimensional effect to the static photograph. The films also focused on the United Utilities’ investment in Thirlmere and the surrounding area today – working with partners to preserve the areas natural environment and delicate ecosystems.

We also designed the public and stakeholder engagement website, help residents, visitors and businesses in Cumbria keep up to date with United Utilities’ work on the water and wastewater network in their area. The site was designed and built in an editable format, so the project team could adapt and evolve the content as the programme developed.