Whitewater Riding Wave of Nordic Engineering Success

Irish company the Whitewater Group is making the most of some very good opportunities in the Nordic region by providing clients with end-to-end tailored water engineering solutions that solve complex problems across a variety of critical industries. 

Headquartered in Naas, County Kildare, Whitewater has been involved in a number of demanding high-profile Nordic construction projects where their unrivalled expertise and agnostic approach to equipment has been carefully matched to the needs of both clients and the environment. 

“The complexity around water is exponentially going up, and it has been for many years,” CEO Richard Stappe explains. “Our aim is to engineer the best solution for each project, and then bring together the right equipment, delivery model and commissioning approach to make that solution work.”

The use of water in everything from data centres to industrial production has become a hot topic in recent years, and issues around supply and water management have risen to the top of the agenda for both those ordering complex new builds and those tasked with delivering them. 

In business for more than 90 years, Whitewater sits in something of a sweet spot where it can draw on decades of technical knowledge and experience without being bound to a particular catalogue of products or services when it comes to delivery. 

“There are many different sources of water, and typically the industry is supplied by very, very large equipment suppliers,” Richard explains. 

Pharma also has a number of requirements around water, both from a utility and an active ingredient point of view. A lot of water in industrial use such as pharma, would be a boiler feed type of steam generation, which is high purity, so we deliver on that too.”

Environmental concerns are addressed at every step of the design and implementation processes. 

“Traditionally, you can achieve a certain quality of water with or without chemicals. We take a very balanced approach with as little chemicals as possible, and none at all if we can. One of the areas we stand out in is a mechanical system called reverse osmosis, which is a really efficient system to generate and regenerate high-purity water,” Richard says. 

In reverse osmosis, pressure is used to push water through a very fine semi-permeable membrane. The membrane lets water molecules pass through while rejecting most dissolved salts, minerals, metals, and other contaminants that may be present.

It’s a process that can be used with water from many different sources, from rivers and lakes to run-off water, rainwater and the kind of meltwater that the Nordic region tends to see plenty of every spring. 

Whitewater’s end-to-end capability also makes it an attractive partner for general contractors, combining engineering, off-site manufacturing, modular delivery, commissioning and ongoing operational support within a single integrated approach.

“We come in early on the design side, working closely with both the client and the contractor. Across a number of European markets, we’ve been engaged because clients and general contractors know we can design, deliver and commission these systems to a high standard. That end-to-end responsibility is a significant part of what we bring, and it’s something we’re prepared to stand over,” Richard says.

Whitewater’s ability to design, implement and maintain these innovative systems is proving a hit across the Nordic region, with several large-scale projects already completed in Finland, Sweden and Denmark, including a first-of-its-kind off-site-manufactured modular water treatment system for a hyperscale data centre client, with further projects in the pipeline.. 

“The operators of these complex builds love what we do on the operational maintenance side. Because we already understand the systems we’ve designed and installed, we can continue to operate and maintain them efficiently, giving the client continuity and confidence for the long term,” Richard says. 

With offices in Espoo, to the west of  the Finnish capital of Helsinki and in the Swedish town of Gävle, some two hours north of Stockholm, Whitewater sees a bright future after almost a decade working in the region. 

“Our approach has always been to become a local company, to set up an office, put people in country, go early, and to understand the challenges. Working in Europe is just a different set of challenges. Once you understand them, they're all manageable. And we take a long-term view with our clients, which they appreciate.” 

Richard says the support of Enterprise Ireland has been a great help to Whitewater in establishing themselves in the Nordic region, and that they continue to receive great support from the agency.

“They recognised our strength in engineering and were more or less the first to realise that these guys are a little bit different – we engineer and build our own equipment in our own facilities in Ireland and Spain, and increasingly we’re using off-site manufacturing to complete more of that work in a controlled environment before it reaches site,” he says. 

“This is about technology – we’re in the construction industry, but we're a different player, and Enterprise Ireland have recognised that, both the Irish team and the in-country teams in the Nordics have been really supportive of what we do, and they have helped us get the message out.”