Innovation in the water sector is often framed as a technology race: smarter networks, richer data, increasingly sophisticated models. Those tools have value. But experience across UK utilities shows that the solutions which move fastest from trial to business-as-usual are rarely the most complex.

Not because the sector lacks ambition but because it understands its own operating reality.

Utilities are balancing regulatory scrutiny, capital discipline, operational resilience and customer impact simultaneously. In that context, innovation succeeds when it fits the system, not when it asks the system to bend around it. That’s where low-tech, well-engineered interventions consistently outperform more complex alternatives.

At Groundbreaker, this has shaped how we design solutions from day one. Products like LoFlo® and INSUduct® aren’t positioned as disruptive technologies. They’re designed to just be effective, delivering measurable outcomes while integrating seamlessly into existing programmes and workflows.

Why Complexity Still Slows Adoption

For utilities, the challenge has never been recognising the need to innovate. It’s been converting innovation into something that survives procurement, regulation, deployment and long-term operation.

Complex solutions can encounter friction at multiple points:

Regulatory Confidence

Any intervention touching the live network must demonstrate safety, compliance and reliability over time. Solutions that introduce new failure modes, data dependencies or operational uncertainty can face extended assurance and approval cycles.

Capital and Risk Exposure

Even where long-term benefits are compelling, solutions that require significant upfront investment, bespoke integration or specialist capability introduce risk, particularly when benefits accrue gradually rather than immediately.

Operational Fit

Technologies that require new processes, training regimes or behavioural change – whether from operators or customers –  can struggle to move beyond pilot. By contrast, interventions that can be embedded into routine activity tend to persist.

Replication at Scale

With multiple regional utilities operating independently, innovations that depend on local customisation rarely scale consistently. Solutions that are simple, standardised and repeatable are far more likely to transfer across organisations.

None of this is theoretical. It’s simply how the sector works.

Procurement: Where Practicality Wins

Utility procurement is often described as conservative. In reality, it is highly selective.

Products that gain traction tend to share common characteristics:

• Clear alignment with existing investment programmes
• Predictable costs across AMP cycles
• Minimal disruption to customers and operations
• Benefits that are straightforward to evidence and defend

Low-tech solutions naturally perform well against these criteria. They reduce friction at the point of decision-making and remove barriers to rollout which is why they often scale faster than more sophisticated alternatives.

Low-Tech in Practice: Where It Delivers

LoFlo® – Demand Reduction, Embedded

LoFlo® is a compact flow-regulation solution installed at the property boundary. It reduces consumption without reducing pressure and without relying on customer engagement.

Installed at scale, LoFlo has delivered 8–10% reductions in per-capita consumption in utility trials, with installation typically completed in minutes during routine meter exchanges.

That combination – passive operation, rapid installation and predictable outcomes – is why multiple UK utilities including Severn Trent and Northumbrian Water, have incorporated LoFlo into wider demand management strategies.

It doesn’t compete with smart systems. It complements them – lowering baseline demand in the background.

INSUduct® and SHalloduct™: Designed for Delivery

Groundbreaker’s on-site solutions address familiar challenges: frost protection, shallow digs, constrained sites and installation efficiency.

• INSUduct® protects service pipes without adding complexity to the install
• SHalloduct™ enables compliant shallow-dig connections where traditional solutions struggle

These products don’t change how teams work – they remove problems that slow them down. The result is faster installations, reduced rework and fewer site-level issues, all without introducing new systems or training requirements.

Supporting Modern Construction Without Over-Engineering

Even in modular and modern methods of construction – often assumed to demand high-tech solutions – Groundbreaker’s plug-and-play approaches show that simplicity still scales best.

By focusing on standardisation, reliability and ease of integration, these solutions support faster delivery while still enabling data capture where required – without creating dependency on complex interfaces or bespoke systems.

Why Simplicity Continues to Scale

Across the sector, the pattern is consistent. Innovations that scale fastest tend to:

• Fit existing operational models
• Require minimal behavioural or process change
• Deliver benefits that are easy to evidence
• Replicate cleanly across regions and programmes

High-tech tools will continue to play an important role in planning, analysis and optimisation. But when the objective is practical impact, delivered at pace, low-tech solutions often do the heavy lifting.

Groundbreaker’s work demonstrates that simplicity isn’t a compromise. It’s a strategic advantage.

Because in water, the innovations that matter most aren’t the ones that look clever, they’re the ones that reliably and repeatedly do the job.