Profit & Planet: Stepping in before the water does

Thursday, 8 January 2026

Aquacomb is the product that launched Watercare, and led to a company that has grown to find solutions to excess water across a range of situations.

Profit & Planet is a series profiling finalists on the Sustainable Business Awards’ Next List, an annual list of the best innovators, entrepreneurs, projects and organisations in the green space.

Watersmart is a company that makes and installs bespoke rainwater collection, stormwater detention and water reuse systems, generally for new builds and developments and commercial and industrial buildings. General manager Philip Kingston told Roeland van den Bergh that the business’ “simple yet profound” mission is to solve water problems, especially those that are caused by a surplus of water as floods become more and more commonplace. Its focus is to harvest, reuse, detain and recycle more water, a “precious taonga” for a more sustainable future.

What is the gap in the market your business' product or service fills?

Watersmart was started by Andrew Olsen and his son Elliot nine years ago. Andrew had been working for a construction business at the time, and on a range of projects which had seen teams grapple with stormwater detention, or a way of storing excess rainwater and slowly releasing it to prevent flooding and erosion. He took it upon himself to come up with a solution, given there seemed to be nothing in New Zealand to solve the problem.

He did some research and found a company in Australia that did precisely what Olsen was looking for. He went over and spoke to the company, now owned by large rainwater solutions firm Kingspan, and struck a deal to sell in New Zealand. We also manufacture some of the newer products here. The Olsens started their business with two people and their main product, called Aquacomb, which is now in mainstream use for stormwater detention; they now employ 40 people and have moved into a number of other products to solve various flood protection problems.

What are your ambitions for the business?

Aquacomb is now a mainstream industry standard for stormwater detention. We are seeing the same growth opportunity with our newer solutions solving different challenges, with significant growth potential.

For example, our Hydraloop unit recycles shower, washing machine, and handbasin water, which gets hygienically cleaned through the system and is then used to flush toilets or clean more clothes.

Porous Lane is a permeable surface solution made with recycled tyres, both sustainable via re-use of a waste material, as well as achieving fantastic permeability. (Great for tree pits, paths, cycle lanes and car parks)

Another example is Watersafe, our plug and play water treatment plant to allow off grid schools, community halls, marae, and other community facilities to comply with the 2021 Water Services Act requirements, and ensure safe drinking water.

We are continuing to scale up, and have recently moved to a new premises with a water innovation hub that showcases how you can be more sustainable and save money by collecting your own rainwater and treating this to enable potableconsumption, recycling and treating grey water, and measuring water consumption. We have done this by integrating our products into the operational running of our business, therefore enabling clients to see this work in real-time.

Right now our primary focus is on the New Zealand market. Our goal is to more than double our business over the next 5 years.

Does NZ do enough to ensure green businesses develop and thrive?

The current challenging construction and economic environment has seen many focus on the “must do” in the green space. In our sector we see opportunity for win-win outcomes where Watersmart solutions can assist economic outcomes for the client or ultimate asset owner, while also achieving improved environmental outcomes.