Aqua-Tech, a UK-based engineering consultancy serving the water and utilities sectors, has announced a strategic partnership with Australian technology company Rock Solid Group to bring advanced BEM™ (Broadband Electro-Magnetic) assessment technology to the UK water market.
The partnership combines Aqua-Tech’s engineering consultancy expertise and on-the-ground delivery capabilities with Rock Solid Group’s proprietary non-destructive testing (NDT) technology. Together, the companies aim to enable smarter, safer, and more sustainable investigation of buried water assets, including rising mains and pipelines, for utilities across the UK.
Under the collaboration, UK water utilities will gain access to BEM™ technology, which delivers 100% external pipe wall coverage without requiring coating removal or invasive processes such as hot tapping. This allows operators to assess high-risk infrastructure with minimal disruption to operations while improving safety and reliability.
According to the companies, the technology supports data-driven decision-making for critical assets, enabling predictive maintenance planning to reduce failure risk and extend asset life. It also supports faster, lower-carbon investigations with reduced operational impact, aligning with the sector’s growing focus on sustainability and resilience.
Commenting on the partnership, Jason Rowe, Managing Director at Aqua-Tech, said:
"This partnership brings something genuinely new to the UK market. With Rock Solid Group’s proven BEM™ technology delivered by our existing in-house engineering experts, we are helping utilities move from reactive response to predictive resilience in a way that’s efficient, practical and aligned to AMP8 priorities."
Martin Roubal, Managing Director at Rock Solid Group, added:
"BEM has been in the UK market since 2001 and currently active on critical projects there, in the US and other countries. We try to make it easy for our clients to access our technology. Through this partnership, the Aqua-Tech arm has all the boxes ticked for standards and compliance that would take us away from providing our technology. A win for all parties."
The partnership is already supporting early-stage deployments, and Aqua-Tech is in discussions with several UK utilities and framework suppliers to explore broader applications of the technology across the country’s water infrastructure network.
The collaboration highlights the growing role of advanced non-destructive testing technologies in strengthening asset integrity management, improving reliability, and supporting long-term infrastructure resilience in the UK water sector.
