About the founder

Malcolm Atherton is the founder of the Water Consultants Ltd consulting company. 

He has worked as an employee for other Consultancies, Local Government, Central Government and Water Companies for over 39 years.

Malcolm decided to start working for himself in April 2021; he is well-known within the industry & is always willing to help out or give advise whenever possible.

He designs above ground (foul & surface water) drainage systems and domestic (hot & cold) water systems within buildings. Moreover, Malcolm provides advice to other engineers regarding above ground drainage and domestic water systems. He is a Legionella Risk Assessor and a Water Regulations Inspector.

Malcolm has developed his skills through a broad range of various different types of projects from inception, construction supervision, through to maintenance.

Malcolm’s experience covers both infrastructure and building systems, as well as being involved in the property management of the Defence and Civil Estates; he is particularly keen on below ground drainage systems involving sewage treatment, as well as above ground drainage systems and drinking water quality.

During his time working in the Defence and Civil Estates, Malcolm was tasked with carrying out the inspection, testing & reporting on the condition of all the below ground private fire hydrants located at the various different Defence Establishments across England & Wales.

Over the years, Malcolm has developed his skills & interests in water quality to an extent whereby he is now a qualified Water Regulations Inspector (Water Byelaws Inspector pre-1999) as well as a Legionella Risk Assessor.

Part of Malcolm’s past experience even involved developing sections of Legionella Risk Assessments that are in use today.

Over the years, Malcolm was responsible for the public health engineering teams within many different Design Consultancies in the UK with a further supporting role for public health engineering services to other external offices within the companies (when required).

Malcolm is and has been for over 15 years the Northern secretary for SoPHE (Society of Public Health Engineers) which is affiliated to CIBSE [also, he's currently the SoPHE West Midlands secretary on a temporary basis only], as well as being a Member of the Water Management Society (WMSoc).

Malcolm is also an Associate Member of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) which consists of mainly doctors, scientists and the like.

Malcolm is a committee member for CIBSE NW and, as a result of being a committee member for both CIBSE & SoPHE, has done (and continues to do so) a number of specialist public health presentations to university & college students (in particular at UCLAN Preston, Liverpool John Moores’ University, Leeds Beckett University and the College of North West London). Malcolm has also undertaken several presentations to other CIBSE Regions.

He has also created links with other Societies and Associations including IHEEM and CIPHE. Malcolm is also a member of the North-West Councils Legionella Focus Group (NWCLFG), which is made up of mainly Legionella Officers from various Local Authorities in the North-West of England.

• He has great experience in the healthcare sector, and has the knowledge / understanding of what's involved with regards to healthcare
• He is a very experienced engineer in the field of public health engineering
• He is very well-known and truly helpful engineer to his numerous clients