As water companies face increasing expectations around resilience, environmental performance and customer service, asset management has never been more important – and neither have the people behind it.
That's the view of Ian Christie, who joined Pennon Group in May 2026 as its newly appointed Chief Asset Officer (CAO) in a role created to ensure the condition, performance and resilience of Pennon’s assets reinforce decisions on service delivery, environmental protection and long-term investment.
For Ian, who joined from Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water where he was Managing Director - Water Services, Capital Delivery and Asset Planning, the opportunity to help shape Pennon's approach to asset management at a pivotal moment for the industry was too good to miss.
"What attracted me was the challenge, " he says. "We're seeing a step-change in investment across the sector, alongside rising expectations from customers, regulators and stakeholders. That creates a real responsibility to ensure we're spending customer money in the right way by investing in the right solutions, in the right places, and delivering the greatest benefit for customers and the environment. "
Pennon is currently delivering a record £3.2 billion investment programme between 2025 and 2030, supporting improvements across water and wastewater services while enhancing environmental performance and resilience.
For Ian, the scale and diversity of Pennon's operations was a major draw. "Pennon covers a large and varied geography, from Devon and Cornwall through to Bristol, Bournemouth and Sutton and East Surrey. It's a big geography with some big challenges.”
Originally from South Shields, Ian studied civil engineering before building a career that has spanned consulting, construction and client-side operation leadership roles.
Over the years he has worked on infrastructure projects around the world as well as delivering civil engineering across multiple UK water companies – experience he now brings to building Pennon’s future capability and the team behind it.
A new role with a clear purpose
Pennon’s Chief Asset Officer role has been created to place asset health and performance at the centre of strategic decision-making across the Group, bringing together the people, skills and expertise needed to deliver the best outcomes for customers and the environment.
Infrastructure refers to every aspect of the service customers receive, from treatment works and pumping stations to the vast network of pipes that transport drinking water and wastewater every day.
"Everything we do is through an asset operated by people," Ian explains. "How we treat water, how we treat wastewater, how we move water around our network and how we deliver services to customers all depends on infrastructure performing as it should."
"My role is about bringing together everything we do with those assets – how we understand them, how we maintain them, how we plan for the future and how we invest in them. By creating a more joined-up approach, we can make better decisions and ultimately deliver better outcomes."
The focus now is on establishing asset management as a strategic capability that supports every part of Pennon's operations.
Ian said: "Joining Pennon at this point has really highlighted the scale of the opportunity ahead. There’s huge passion, expertise and commitment across the business, and a clear opportunity to work in a more joined-up way.
What excites me most is the chance to build and strengthen our asset management capability, bringing together the talent we already have and welcoming new people who want to make a difference. Because ultimately, everything we deliver for customers and the environment depends on how well our assets perform.
Looking ahead, asset management is only going to become more important. The decisions we make today will shape resilience, service and environmental outcomes for decades to come – and that makes this an incredibly exciting time to be part of the team."
Building for the future
With the industry facing increasing scrutiny and long-term challenges around climate resilience, environmental protection and infrastructure performance, asset management will play an increasingly central role for Pennon, and that means not only investing in infrastructure but investing in people and building a team with expertise, ambition and purpose.
"If you look 5, 10 or even 25 years ahead, asset management will become even more important," Ian says. "The decisions we make today about investment, maintenance and renewal will shape the services we can provide in the future."
"We're already building the team and strengthening our capability. Pennon has a huge amount of talent across the organisation and we are reshaping that and supplementing it by bringing in some new key roles.”