The Constructing Excellence Awards show how the UK construction industry can excel at collaboration, innovation and sustainability.

The Egan Report drew comparisons between manufacturing and construction, so how has the relationship changed over the past two decades? Nathan Doughty, CEO of Asite, shares his thoughts

More than two decades on from the release of the influential Egan Report, Nathan Doughty, CEO of Asite, reflects on the progress the construction industry has made with five key drivers of change

Cities have become early adopters of digital twin technology and, as such, city planners are using virtual models to gain a competitive edge.

Digital twins are enhancing the way capital projects and infrastructure are planned, built, and operated globally. However, despite their obvious benefits – including optimized decision-making and better project outcomes – and successful use cases, digital twins remain a new and mostly untapped resource, especially on bigger projects where they can be most impactful.

By encouraging a change in how the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector operates, digital twins can revolutionize the way capital projects are built and help achieve operational excellence.

Capital project stakeholders, most notably owners and project managers, need to be more aware of the wide-ranging benefits of digital twins and the challenges they need to overcome to make the most of this now essential technology.

Nathan Doughty, CEO: 05-January-2021

Our 2021 COVID Response

Firstly, let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy new year.

2020 was a year none of us saw coming. The COVID-19 pandemic brought an unexpected shock to society across every country in the world. As we all know, lockdown measures are still front of mind, along with hope for a rapid program of vaccination and getting society and our economy back to a new “normal” focused on growth and recovery.

Asite is continuing to adapt and respond to ever-changing needs and requirements to keep our clients’ projects moving and provide them with the tools they need to excel. 

Responding to this new wave

As the coronavirus evolves, we are carefully monitoring the situation in all the regions where the Asite Group and our customer base operate, and closely following government guidelines in each of those jurisdictions.

The welfare and safety of our staff, visitors and customers and ensuring business continuity for those using the Asite Platform remain our top priorities.

At our headquarters in London, our office remains open for those who cannot work from home. However, following the UK Government guidelines and the introduction of a third national lockdown, Asite is encouraging all employees to work from home if they can do so.

In the United States, both our New York and Houston offices remain open, the safety of our staff is paramount. Strict protocols are in place to ensure local government advice is adhered to.

Restrictions in India are in place to reduce the spread of the virus. In order to comply with this not all members of the Asite India team have returned to the office. Those returning must comply with COVID protocols at all times.

Our offices across Australia remain open for those who cannot work from home, however, in light of the newly introduced lockdowns and measures across a number of states, we’re actively encouraging our employees to take necessary precautions and work from home when they can.

In the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong our offices are open, however employees are being encouraged to work from home.

All of our offices globally are adhering to strict hygiene standards and social distancing measures. One-way systems remain in place and anti-bacterial dispensers are available throughout office spaces, as we encourage all staff to maintain appropriate workplace hygiene in order to curb the spread of the virus.

We will continue to monitor local government guidelines and adapt our response in line with the most current local guidance.

Business continuity

As we start 2021, business continuity remains one of our highest priorities. Throughout 2020 Asite introduced a number of measures to ensure every function of the Asite business remained fully operational, this will continue into the new year.

Asite will continue to operate on a “business as usual” basis, with platform updates and developments continuing according to our normal schedule.

All key operational staff within our organization, including those directly responsible for platform operations, will remain working remotely. Our professional services, customer success, and support teams remain on-hand for all our clients’ needs across geographies.

As different regions enter different phases and restrictions we want to ensure our customers that we will be with you every step of the way.  

Looking to the future

As we ready ourselves for a difficult few months ahead, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The roll out of the biggest global vaccination program in history is underway and with it brings the prospect of a return to normal life.

However, for now we remain vigilant and continue to monitor government advice across the Asite regions. Our focus will remain on the safety of our community and the continued operational excellence of the Asite Platform.

 

Keep safe.

Nathan Doughty, CEO: 01-September-2020

Reopening our offices and ensuring the safety of our staff

Over the past few months, we’ve seen a gradual easing of the lockdowns that we’ve all faced since March in most regions around the world. With this, many organizations have started making plans to safely return to work, including Asite.

On 6^th July, we reopened our London, New York City, and Sydney offices, providing the team with the flexibility to either continue to work from home or to return to the office.  Working with our Asite Pandemic Response Team, we developed a booking system for the London headquarters. To ensure social distancing can be appropriately maintained, we can only accommodate up to 50% capacity in the space on any given workday. Our New York and Sydney offices enjoy ample space to allow all staff members to return to the office whilst maintaining social distancing measures.

From the 5^th of August we re-opened our Ahmedabad office in Gujarat, India at maximum 50% capacity for those team members who need to use it.   On the 3^rd of August we opened a new office space for our rapidly growing team in Houston, Texas. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, our teams continue to work from home at this time.

In all cases we are carefully following regional guidance to ensure our employees are safe and that we’re helping to stop the spread of the virus.

Throughout our offices globally, we have also ensured that strict hygiene standards and social distancing measures are implemented. In common office spaces there is a one-way system for entry and exit, with doors marked accordingly. Anti-bacterial dispensers are available throughout office spaces, and we are actively encouraging our staff to maintain appropriate workplace hygiene, including regular handwashing and wiping down surfaces to name a few.

We have reviewed the layouts of our office spaces in light of social distancing guidelines. Desks are marked with appropriate signage to signal whether an employee can use the space while maintaining social distance.

These re-openings are subject to change should local government guidelines shift but are in line with the most current local guidance on lockdown relaxation. We’re focused on ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our staff throughout this process.

Ensuring business continuity

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, Asite has smoothly transitioned to remote working with no impact on delivery of our service. Every function of the Asite business has remained fully operational and will continue to do so.

Our platform continues to operate on a “business as usual” basis, and our platform updates have been released according to our normal schedule. To support this, we have ensured all key operational staff for the platform within our organization remain working remotely.

At Asite, we are committed to keeping our clients’ projects moving and providing them with the tools they need to build better. To those who have restarted work, those still waiting, and those who never stopped; the Asite Platform is with you every step of the way. Our professional services, customer success, and support teams remain on-hand for all our clients’ needs.

We will continue to monitor governmental advice across the Asite regions and focus on the well-being of our community and the continued operation of the Asite Platform.

 

Keep safe. 

Nathan Doughty, CEO: 23-March-2020

Things are changing quickly!

This evening I sat with my wife and children in our house in London and we watched Boris Johnson address the nation in his latest daily briefing and announce a three-week “lockdown” here in the UK.  Government has set out a positive mission to beat coronavirus and protect our health care sector, asking each and every one of us to join together by staying home and practicing social distancing.

Similar measures are being put in place by government in all the places around the world where Asite operates.  We’re all adjusting to the changing situation around us and our society is adapting quickly to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.  At Asite, we intend to make social distancing work, powered by web-based collaborative working through our own Asite Platform as well as partner technologies such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom. 

Since my last update, we have implemented work-from-home strategies for all Asite employees across every country and tested home internet connections, real-time collaboration capabilities, and data security arrangements.   For many Asite employees, remote working has long been standard procedure.  All employees access company systems securely and security standards in our data centers for the Asite Platform remain unparalleled. 

Every function of the Asite business remains fully operational – business as usual in a decidedly unusual time.  We’ve reviewed the critical business processes for all of our teams and developed contingency plans for operational continuity.   The global spread of our teams helps us here.  All of this activity is coordinated by an Asite Pandemic Response Team which currently meets daily via Teams.

It’s important that we all help each other to remain mentally positive while we adjust to this new way of working en masse.  Keeping communication lines open and adhering to normal work routines is key. 

We’re going to be publishing information on a series of free webinar training sessions on how to work remotely with the Asite Platform over the coming days to try to help teams ramp-up as quickly as possible to work in a world of social distancing.  

 

Everyone stay safe and keep communicating!