Technical Copywriter for the UK Water Treatment Sector

Hyder Consulting/Welsh Water/United Utilities case-studies

I undertook this technical copywriting work, involving copywriting and hyperlinked CD creation, while working for Piper Group plc. The finished CD-based O&M manuals enabled engineers to access large volumes of operation and maintenance (O&M) documentation at eight pumping stations (Newport, South Wales) and, on a second project, a complete new wastewater treatment works (Cardiff).

An easy-to-use hyperlinked CD-based document

My work involved thorough liaison with site management teams and equipment suppliers to collate a complete set of O&M manuals for the project, convert these into PDFs, create supplementary technical copy (including scheme descriptions, contact information and health and safety information) and integrate the whole into a portable, easy-to-use hyperlinked document. In each case, the volume of documentation ran to several tens of thousands of A3, A4, A5, DL and non-standard pages as well as hundreds of engineering drawings.

Copywriting and documentation management skills

On completion of each project, a small roomful of complex information had been successfully combined in an easily portable form. In its original (generally hard-copy) format, this information was unordered and, due to its volume, difficult to transport to worksites. As a couple of CDs, all the information could be carried in an engineer's pocket.

Everyone was a winner

Everyone along the document creation chain was a winner. The clients were delighted, with information users reporting a vast improvement in their productivity in difficult working environments. The Piper Group plc had completed another successful project and I had gained valuable technical copywriting, project management and software experience.