Draw on: 20 years of Foreship experience

Twenty years with a single organisation is a significant milestone in any career. Lasse Piispa and Niklas Sandström explain why staying the course at Foreship was never in doubt.

Sandström and Piispa met in 2003, on the day they signed their contracts of employment with Foreship. Both were established naval architecture professionals; both had decided to join an organisation which was only a few months old.

“I studied with Markus (Aarnio – Foreship co-founder and Chief Naval Architect) and it was clear from the beginning what kind of guy he was,” says Niklas. Both also knew Foreship co-founder Petri Hakulinen.

“It wasn’t the company but the people that I joined,” says Lasse Piispa, Senior Structural Designer, Foreship. “Foreship was a group of friends and colleagues at the start.”

“I did not hesitate for one moment: as soon as the opportunity came, I knew I had to take it,” says Niklas.

News spread fast. The new colleagues hit the ground running, as a fast-growing band of customers sought expert services from an initially small Foreship group, whose capabilities covered everything from newbuild and conversion concept/project design and consultation, to project management.

“By the time I heard there was a target to grow to 15 people, we were two months in and had already passed that number,” says Lasse.

Piispa spent the first year in the Helsinki shipyard, mainly preparing classification drawings for icebreakers. After two months in the yard, Sandström was in the States planning a cruise ship docking. By the Spring, he was working on FE [finite element] analysis for Rhapsody of the Seas.

“We were a small team and you had to be ready to do anything,” he says now. The company grew to around 45 employees and stayed there for several years before a merger with an electrical systems installation consultancy prompted a more formalised business structure.

“There were so many project highlights that it’s hard to be specific, but one of the most exciting was Celebrity Solstice, where we FE modelled the two-storey glass wine tower using natural frequency analysis as well as strength analysis,” says Niklas. Other career highs include the Oasis of the Seas drydocking in 2019, he says, but new challenges continue to arise: earlier this year, Niklas was promoted to the role of Foreship Project Director.

In a role he sums up as “classification drawings, calculations and structure design,” Lasse cites enduring company professionalism as the central reason his future, as well 20 years of history, lies with Foreship.

And both emphasise that Foreship remains a good place to work - even after all these years. “When you’ve worked at other companies before – as we have - you’ve got something to compare with; that’s how I know how well we’ve always been treated,” adds Niklas.

Key for both has been the collaborative approach which has served them well over two decades with Foreship, where their experience is increasingly sought out by younger colleagues.

“Designing is teamwork, and mentoring is about daily interaction, especially if you’re managing a project,” comments Lasse. “I have to say the new Foreship generation of designers is really skilled – better, if you like – and the complex things from past years are straightforward for them.”