Skewb runs gamified control room contest at IWA Glasgow

Interview recorded with consent on 2026-10-06 at IWA Glasgow

A digital water sector competition at IWA Glasgow drew 110 registrations for 48 seats, Tony Summerscales said. The competition runs on an operations control simulator built on the company's own control room product, with an engine underneath that creates a gamified version. He said entrants came from 16 different countries and 17 different languages.

The UK is hosting the IWA for the first time, and the event approached the company just over a year ago. Summerscales said the aim was to show the UK in a future looking light, with digital and technology part of the water sector's journey.

A different contest

He said the traditional operations challenge had run for decades as a physical activity, but was very narrow in terms of who could take part. The brief was a digital forward look and something inclusive, so that more people than those who worked on the tools could compete. He said play was running in 5 different languages across the 2 competitions. He said the company believes it is the first time a water event will use a digital competition format. “This is what the future of competition should look like in the water sector”, said Tony Summerscales.

AI where needed

Summerscales said the company uses AI, but described it as a bit of a challenging area right now. In clients' control rooms, an AI triage tool works through low level alarms using the operators' existing systems and standard operating procedures, he said. The AI makes decisions on low risks and gives the next best action to the control operator. He said “AI is used where it needs to be used”, adding that it should not simply become a label. “Don't just use it, because you can”, he said.

Street works compliance

The company's material classification product followed changes to street works regulations that Summerscales said came in last year. Utilities must now consider the safe and effective disposal of material each time they excavate from the street. Previously that was only required on large scale capital works, through a largely manual process of soil samples. “Now we're in a world where you have to do that every time you dig a hole”, he said. The system carries out a risk assessment based on where permits are raised, lets field teams capture data on excavated material and supports quarterly reporting. For the wider street works products, which he said others had developed, the platform uses the UK street works database to track permit journeys. He said this means “allowing our clients to recognize when they're at risk of a penalty … as opposed to getting the penalty and then working backwards”.

Speed and expertise

Summerscales, who has 45 years of water sector experience, said the business is built around subject matter experts. He said larger suppliers could take many years to mobilise a software product. “For us, weeks and months is our time scope”, he said. Because its staff already understand what the industry needs, “we're starting from a place of knowledge”, he said. Its digital products are offered as modules, including tools covering training, accreditation, vehicle MOTs and equipment calibration certificates, which clients combine into the solution they need.

Drafted with AI assistance from the reporter's recording and notes; approved for publication by Bill Gray (owner).