Causeway Technologies appoints Richard Longdon to board

Construction technology provider Causeway Technologies has appointed Richard Longdon as Non-Executive Chairman.

One of Britain’s most respected ‘Silicon Fen’ entrepreneurs, Longdon was Chief Executive and subsequently President of AVEVA for 17 years before stepping down at the end of 2017. Under his leadership, AVEVA grew into a FTSE 250 technology company with a market capitalisation of £1.4bn at the time of his retirement from the board.

Previous positions include Chairman at Ideagen and senior independent non-executive board positions at Alfa Financial and Fidessa before it was taken private in 2018. 

He has also worked with private equity-backed businesses, serving as a non-executive chairman at Process Systems Enterprise and non-executive director at Prometheus. 

Longdon's appointment at Causeway follows the recent announcement of a £120m investment in Causeway by Five Arrows Principal Investments, the European corporate private equity arm of Rothschild & Co, to fund strategic acquisitions and accelerate the company’s organic growth strategy to provide a seamless digital connection across the entire construction supply chain.

Phil Brown, Chief Executive of Causeway, said his appointment brings complementary expertise in software business management and financial performance.

"This appointment is also indicative of the level of excitement about our market opportunity, and the strength of our ambitions as a business," he said. "Our core purpose at Causeway is to enable the digitisation of the construction industry to best-in-class standards, and Richard’s arrival will help us scale our capability so that we can enable our customers to best leverage technology to be distinctly impactful in their respective markets.” 

Longdon said he looked forward to accelerating the extension of Causeway’s cloud platform across multiple sub-segments of the construction supply chain.

"It is clear that the construction industry urgently needs and wants good technology solutions. With its recent acquisitions and the investment from Five Arrows, I see Causeway as exceptionally well placed to play a leading role in this market, especially given Causeway’s fantastic product set and deep customer relationships.” 

Causeway Technologies, established in 1999, is headquartered in Buckinghamshire UK, and serves over 2,500 customers. Causeway provides enterprise and cloud software solutions to the construction and infrastructure maintenance industries and spans the full value and supply chain.

IoT: a construction risk 'game changer' 

Firms are embracing IoT and new technologies to improve productivity and safety.

Last week Latium Technologies and Aon struck a strategic alliance to introduce Latium's Job Site Insights (JSI) Internet of Things (IoT) application and suite of products as a foundational risk mitigation tool for contractors and owners.

The alliance enables contractors and owners to prevent incidents before they happen, realise lower insurance costs and obtain more comprehensive terms for their insurance coverage.

"Unlocking the power of IoT is a game changer in construction risk management," said David Bowcott, global director of growth innovation & insights for Aon's Construction Services Group.