Gather, the Manchester-based site record solutions startup, has successfully concluded another investment round, attracting further support from experienced practitioners and thought leaders in the construction industry.
Founded in 2018, Gather's innovative Record Management System (RMS) has been adopted by major asset owners such as Transport for London (TfL) and Network Rail, as well as leading contractors including Murphy Group, Babcock and NG Bailey in rail and highways sectors.
Industry Experts Back Gather's Vision
Among the recent investors is Nick Mansell, CEO of Intermarine UK, a workforce management specialist supplying over a third of skilled shipbuilding professionals in the UK. Mansell first saw what an RMS could do as a project manager for CPC Project Services, working on TfL's high-profile Four Lines Modernisation project. Gather's site record solutions delivered an impressive 11% cost reduction for cable installation by eliminating paper site diaries, cutting reporting time, and generating real-time site insights, saving 1,626 work hours per week.
Mansell stressed the importance of information sharing among project stakeholders: "Using better ways to capture and share site information will make a big difference in how well we deliver projects. When every stakeholder has access to accurate, real-time site records, it becomes much easier to spot and fix problems. It's vital that we give our site teams the tools they need to do this. To make this happen, the connection between site and office teams must be strong and seamless."
Ben Walker, a member of the NEC4 drafting team and founder of the market-leading contract management system CEMAR, has also invested in Gather. He now leads the startup's business development efforts. Walker believes that effective connection of site operations with commercial assurance is key to "transforming how the industry delivers major infrastructure."
He elaborated on the benefits of Gather's platform: "Gather is a unique construction record management system for today's complex infrastructure projects. Site teams benefit from easy, on-the-go record capture and resource allocation. The project office gains real-time commercial assurance. Medium to long-term insights afford all stakeholders the opportunity to continually improve for future work."
Joining Walker and Mansell in the latest investment round is Daniel Walker, former Chief Information Officer of Thinkproject UK. This is in line with Gather's history of strong backing from infrastructure industry experts like Steve Secker of McCarthy Stone and Dave Price of Exxon Mobil.
Secker, who guides Gather as its non-executive chair, welcomes new investors onboard: "We are delighted to welcome three new investors who align with our existing team's vision. With their support, we will continue to accelerate sustainable construction and improve the sector's productivity by providing a solution for site records. It's an exciting time for UK construction, as well as for Gather."
A Vision for Modern Construction Records
William Doyle, founder of Gather, expressed his satisfaction that industry leaders share his vision to modernise records for construction sites: "I quit my job as a quantity surveyor because I was sick and tired of having terrible records. This problem costs the construction industry billions of pounds a year. Not having timely access to consistent, structured data from the site results in low productivity, low margins and late projects. I am glad that there are people who are willing to fight this battle with me."
The investment round concluded as some of the largest contractors are looking to roll out Gather's RMS across all UK regions and multiple sectors. Doyle explained, "We have officially partnered with Amey Rail for Control Period 7 for the North West and Central region. Costain and Dyer & Butler are also exploring the option to roll out Gather across different disciplines."
He added, "Our goal is to widen our reach across all sectors and projects of different scales to bring about ground swelling for site records. We will continue to align Gather to best practice standard forms of contract such as NEC and help drive the growth agenda being pursued in the UK and beyond."
Key Takeaways
- The raise is not the product. The product is the record written on the shift.
- That record lives in the site diary. A funding announcement does not write it for you.
- Rosie reads those entries against the contract. Book 15 minutes if you want to see it on one live job.
Gather turns your site diaries into commercial evidence and flags compensation events before the eight week time bar closes. Book 15 minutes and see it run against one of your own projects.
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