Based in Grontmij’s Dublin office, Mr White, formerly deputy city engineer at Dublin City Council, will head up the consultancy’s Irish arm of its water expertise area, which represents a significant source of Grontmij’s overall revenues in the UK & Ireland.

Mr White will draw on his wealth of experience to deliver Grontmij’s unrivalled portfolio of water engineering services to existing customers operating in Grontmij’s core Irish water markets, including water conservation and leakage control, asset design, network modelling studies and environmental impact assessment.

Diversify the business

In addition, he aims to diversify the business in Ireland by exploiting the most innovative techniques that Grontmij’s 490 strong team of UK and Ireland water professionals have developed under framework and partnering conditions, such as energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, delivering these to new areas of the Irish water market. 

He said: “Over the past decade, through my work in the public sector, I have had a significant involvement in the development of Ireland’s water services infrastructure - an objective that remains unchanged with my appointment to Grontmij. There is great opportunity to complement the range of existing services provided by the Dublin office, utilising our wealth of expertise and experience from the UK, Denmark, Holland and other Grontmij offices to ensure a comprehensive, quality service for our clients.

European market leader in water industry

“Grontmij’s European status, market-leading position in the water industry and wide portfolio of services really plays to this opportunity. The new challenges presented by the Wastewater Discharge [Authorisation] Regulations 2007, climate change and the resulting flooding consequences, and the requirement to deliver a safe and reliable drinking water supply to all consumers will set much of the agenda in the coming years. I look forward to working with Grontmij’s huge resources to continue to enhance our infrastructure.”

Prior to joining Dublin City Council in 1992, where he was responsible for the city’s wastewater treatment and drainage network, Mr White provided skills and expertise on water, wastewater and pollution control for a number of County Councils, including Kildare, Sligo and Donegal.

Well known and highly respected

Jim McColl, Grontmij’s water operations director, said: “Battie’s appointment is testimony to the value that Grontmij can bring to the water industry in Ireland. The combination of his in-depth public sector experience and Grontmij’s market leadership in water is really powerful and will work to the benefit of customers and end users alike. Battie is a very well-known and highly respected figure across the industry - we warmly welcome him to the management team.“