- Integrated approach
- Team player
- Innovative solutions in projects
Any assignment Vatten Pro works on requires a customised solution. However, there is a common theme in how we work and what we consider important.
Vatten Pro is an engineering consultancy that seeks to offer the very highest level of quality, because we believe that a commitment to excellence is key to developing sustainable solutions for today’s challenges. We aim to be very good at what we do. Our staff are experts in their respective disciplines and pursue ongoing innovation. We work with expert partners and maintain a culture of entrepreneurship and trust. We consider it essential that our actions are guided by our key quality attributes: expertise, reliability and commitment. Our corporate culture is characterised by trust and scope for entrepreneurship. It is essential that everyone is enabled to excel at what he or she does, and that we offer an environment that promotes creativity and innovation.
We aim to be an engaged partner that treats its stakeholders with integrity. Our responsibilities and the way we do business are described in our core values. All Vatten Pro employees worldwide must act in accordance with our core values and the resulting arrangements.
Integrated approach
Due to societal developments, the projects we work on are becoming increasingly large and complex. This requires a transition from a traditional, linear and multifunctional design approach to one that is integrated, cyclical and multifunctional. We are currently in the midst of this transition, which has far-reaching consequences. Integrated designs are all about collaboration between different professional disciplines, clients, public-sector representatives and local businesses and residents.
Our approach
A traditional design process is by-and-large linear in nature, with the design and impact assessment taking place one after another, performed by different experts. The result of this is that any negative effects, such as excessive costs or unacceptable environmental impacts, only become evident at a fairly late stage in the project. If the outcome of the impact assessment necessitates any design adjustments at that stage, it will result in budget and project schedule overshoots and ultimately suboptimal design solutions. Because our assignments are becoming larger and more complex, the associated financial risks are also increasing. Based on past experiences, we therefore developed a new design method.
Abandoning the linear design process, our approach is based on an iterative, cyclical design process. In the plan of action for a design contract, we explicitly define several design loop within the lead time available for the assignment. The degree to which integral designing can be applied will depend on the assignment received from the client within the entire project, and the stage of the project’s progress. Every project requires a customised solution – this applies to the implementation of concept of integral designing, the composition of the project team and the timeline of the design process.
Multidisciplinary collaboration
An integral approach to each project is assured by our organisational structure that is built upon global, closely cooperating product-market combinations. In addition to a wide range of technical expertise, we also possess expertise in costs and financing, process control, legal aspects and behavioural sciences.
Collaboration
The issues Vatten Pro tackles are becoming increasingly complex. To create sustainable solutions, collaboration is essential, both within and outside the supply chain. We always try to assemble the best team for every assignment.
Around the world, Vatten Pro employees from different backgrounds work together. We do not claim to be able to carry out all projects entirely on our own. We prefer to be a flexible player that manages to assemble the strongest team together with other parties. In these collaborative projects, Vatten Pro frequently takes on the role of initiator and lead contractor. A number of collaborations have even resulted in structural partnerships with other engineering consultancies and complementary organisations.
Team player
Vatten Pro also considers it important to be able to learn together in the supply chain. That is why we share our knowledge and experiences among different groups of clients around the world. We also regularly ask our stakeholders for advice and points for improvement. This way of working is on our genes and fits with the one of the 17 sustainable development goals of the UN – Partnership in order to achieve the objectives.
Sustainable design
The global pursuit of sustainable development is an irreversible social trend. This has an effect on the work of engineers. New insights resulting from new research and developments can change the situation for which an engineer is developing a solution. Innovation, through research and development, continuously provides new insights. These can be used to develop the best engineering solution. As engineers, we are able to adjust our solutions to the changing situation. One of the most important tools we use to find comprehensive sustainable solutions is our sustainable design principles.
There is no such thing as a blueprint for sustainable solutions. That is why we started developing sustainable design principles years ago. This set of seven sustainable design principles helps us to look for sustainable solutions in every project and to provide sustainable alternatives for solutions that perhaps seem less sustainable at first glance. The principles promote a sustainability-oriented mindset rather than a ready-to-use solution. Anyone can easily apply the tool in whatever way they choose. The advantage is significant in that it will result in better designs and thus more impact for and by all stakeholders involved in a project.
‘PLUSworking’
The way in which we work is changing. We are increasingly mobile, we work in integrated project teams more frequently – at a single location – and we use more and more digital ways of working. That is why Vatten Pro introduced the ‘PLUSworking’ concept.
PLUSworking provides an environment that optimises the way we work. The concept combines office accommodation, ICT and behaviour on order to facilitate Vatten Pro’s primary process – multidisciplinary and integrated collaboration – as much as possible. The new way of working provides for time- and location-independent working and offers excellent facilities for meetings and video conferences.
Office design
Combined use of workstations and a new, more open-plan layout have created an environment that enables staff to talk to and consult each other, but also to work in quiet when needed. The lay-out is still based on departments, but collaborating with colleagues in other disciplines is very simple with PLUSworking. By providing areas for focused working, phone booths and small meeting rooms, everyone will be able to find the right spot for the work at hand at any one time. Elements such as project areas and BIM areas make the work easier help people work more effectively.
The design of the office matches our ambition to be a top-class engineering consultancy, which is reflected in the use of high-quality furniture, materials and facilities. We like to give our clients and partners an appropriate reception. For our employees, we consider it important to provide a safe and comfortable work environment that makes them feel ‘at home’. That is the kind of environment that will allow us to work on good results in high-profile projects.