Water year for engineering firm

Richard Alan Engineering, which specialises in manufacturing chemical treatment equipment, won the Reporter Series Larger Business of the Year award in 2012, and has no intention of resting on its laurels.

Kathy Bradley, from the firm, said: “We have great expertise in the area of polymer treatment, and we are very excited to move into the world of commissioning our brand-new water treatment systems.

“We have already had a lot of interest from consultants who work with the water companies.”

The new systems use a polymer chemical in order to separate solids from water.

The Dewsbury-based company is in its second year of creating specialist water treatment systems, and turnover from these systems from the last financial year made up more than £2m of the company’s £11m turnover.

Kathy added: “It’s a big percentage and, considering it was the first year for this particular branch of the company, we feel it has done quite well.

“To be still making profits like we are doing is quite impressive – we have out-performed our previous two years and, when considering the recession, we are very pleased with how things are going.”

The company, which also creates equipment for BASF chemicals in Low Moor and the Glencore copper mine in Ghana, also plans to move into new areas.

Kathy said: “We are looking to move into paper pulp – obviously, when recycling paper, the water needs to be separated from the paper, so we can see some exciting opportunities in that field.”