Home / About us
About us
Aquarious was established to turn a development project into a product. Norway's first floating swimming pool was built in Arendal as a public research and development contract. The people who led and shaped it work here today.
Background
The building-related problems of indoor swimming facilities are well known. We came into the pool industry from two other directions. One is offshore, where the requirements for documentation, quality, service life and resistance to seawater and chemicals are stricter than anything a swimming facility is exposed to. The other is maritime: our chief designer is among Norway's foremost boat designers, with fifteen years behind him on composite vessels — including free-fall lifeboats, which are about as demanding as the material gets.
Seen from where we stand, a pool is not a building with water in it. It is a structure that has to stand in an aggressive environment for decades with as little maintenance as possible — precisely the task composite was developed for.
It is also why we build outdoors. The building envelope around an indoor facility is the most expensive and most troublesome part of the whole thing. Take it away and investment, energy use and maintenance all fall sharply — and what is left is the pool itself, which is the part we can make well.
The people
There are few of us. That means whoever answers the phone is the same person who has done the calculations — there is no sales department between you and the engineers.
Managing director
MSc in marine technology, NTH, 1990. More than thirty years in the offshore industry in design, qualification and project management, including composite components for subsea use.
Project manager for the first floating pool in Norway, and working with pools in glass-fibre reinforced composite since 2016.
Chief designer
Industrial designer with more than fifteen years in the design and engineering of composite vessels — including free-fall lifeboats and autonomous craft, where the requirements for quality, finish and robustness allow no compromise.
Responsible for the design and detailing of the first floating pool in Norway.
Project manager
Qualified both as a civil engineer and as an economist. More than fifteen years of project management for private and public property developments.
Responsible for tendering and execution, from enquiry to handed-over facility.
Commercial director
MSc in finance, with broad experience from the energy, industrial and financial sectors. Has led functions in finance, accounting, sales and production.
Responsible for commercial matters, contracts and finance.
The obvious question
Aquarious is a small organisation, and that is the first thing any buyer finds out anyway. If you are to invest tens of millions, who you are tying yourself to is a fair question. The answer is that engineering and fabrication are carried out by two of Norway's heaviest composite outfits — and that CSUB is the same company that engineered and fabricated the pool in Arendal.
Engineering
An engineering company in Fredrikstad, established in 1991, specialising in the development and modelling of large composite structures. Clients worldwide, and participation in international research projects.
FiReCo produced the structural calculations for the footbridge in Fredrikstad, which was the world's longest composite bridge of its kind when it was completed in 2003. The company is used to writing documentation that has to be approved by classification societies.
Fabrication, floating facilities
A composite manufacturer at Eydehavn outside Arendal, with deep experience from subsea and offshore, and in recent years from load-bearing structures for construction and civil engineering.
CSUB produced the 42-metre footbridge at Paradis in Bergen — the largest composite bridge made in Norway — for Vestland county council. That project was carried out together with FiReCo. CSUB also engineered and fabricated the pool in Arendal.
The last point is worth noting: the two have already delivered a public infrastructure project together, for a regional authority. The constellation was not assembled for the occasion.
We are clear about what is ours and what is not. Arendal Sjøbad was not delivered by Aquarious — it was built by Arendal Havn KF as client under a public research and development contract, with our managing director as project manager and our chief designer as designer. Its use as a reference is agreed with Arendal Havn.
Judge us on that, not on headcount. And do ask the hard questions about guarantees, insurance and delivery capability early — they belong in a pre-project, not in a contract negotiation.
Contact
The simplest thing is to call. If you have a condition survey, a site plan or a council decision, send it by email first — then we can say something concrete in the first conversation. We work in English and Norwegian.
Telephone
Claes William Olsen, managing directorVisiting address
Vikaveien 29 B
4817 His, Norway
Next step