BIW Technologies is a privately held British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 company providing web-based electronic construction collaboration technologies

Construction collaboration technology

Construction collaboration technology refers to software applications used to enable effective sharing of project-related information between geographically dispersed members of a construction project team, often through use of a web-based Software as a service platform.-History:The terms...

 (also sometimes described as project management

Project management

Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...

 or project extranet

Extranet

An extranet is a computer network that allows controlled access from the outside, for specific business or educational purposes. An extranet can be viewed as an extension of a company's intranet that is extended to users outside the company, usually partners, vendors, and suppliers...

 systems), to customers in the construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

 and property sectors. To date, it claims its software has been used by over 190,000 registered users in over 14,000 organisations.

History

Having purchased the rights to a prototype Software-as-a-Service

Software as a Service

Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...

 (SaaS) application already being piloted by Sainsbury's and BAA, CEO Colin Smith and his fellow founder directors established the company in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in early 2000 as interest in construction-oriented dot.com businesses began to peak in the UK. Working with such 'blue chip' clients helped BIW market the platform to both existing project supply chains and to new customers, and the business grew rapidly.

By 2003, according to independent research by Compagnia, BIW could claim 26.4% of the UK market, and it was achieving annual revenues of £2.7m, comfortably ahead of its then nearest UK rival, BuildOnline. For a period 2001-2004, BIW also provided its software to Asite which traded as a reseller of BIW's platform until it launched its own collaboration system and became a direct competitor.

In 2003 BIW was a founder member of the Network of Construction Collaboration Technology Providers (NCCTP), then managed by CIRIA

CIRIA

CIRIA is a member-based research and information organisation dedicated to improvement in all aspects of the construction industry. Members include representatives from all parts of the supply chains of the modern built environment, covering building and civil engineering as well as transport and...

 but today part of Constructing Excellence

Constructing Excellence

Constructing Excellence is a UK-based construction industry membership organisation. In the UK, it is unique insofar as its member organisations are drawn from across the industry supply chain, ranging from clients, through contractors and consultants, to suppliers and manufacturers of building...

. From 2000-2005, Sir Michael Latham

Michael Latham

Sir Michael Anthony Latham was British Conservative Member of Parliament for Melton from February 1974 to 1983, and for Rutland and Melton from 1983 until he stood down in 1992....

, author of the influential Latham Report

Latham Report

The Latham Report, titled Constructing the Team, was an influential report written by Sir Michael Latham, published in July 1994. Latham was commissioned by the United Kingdom government and industry organisations to review procurement and contractual arrangements in the UK construction industry,...

, served as non-executive Deputy Chairman of BIW.

In January 2005, the company relocated its head office from London to Woking

Woking

Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....

 in Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

. It has maintained a UK software development centre in Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

 since 2000, and established an offshore software development centre in Vadodara

Vadodara

Vadodara formerly known as Baroda is the third most populated city in the Indian State of Gujarat . It is one of the four cities with the population of over 1 million...

, Gujarat, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 in October 2007.

It opened a Middle East office in Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

 in 2006. In 2008, it formed a partnership with Sage

The Sage Group

The Sage Group plc , commonly known as Sage, is a global enterprise software company headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. It is the world's third-largest supplier of enterprise resource planning software , the largest supplier to small businesses, and has 6.1 million customers...

 to deliver its collaboration solutions to clients in north America.

In April 2006, BIW Technologies won the 'Entrepreneur of the Year' category in the industry's annual Building Awards, being described as a "firm that seems intent on wiping paper use out of the industry altogether".

In December 2010 BIW Technologies was acquired by German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-based conject Holdings GmbH in a deal to unite leading providers of ILM

Infrastructure Lifecycle Management

Infrastructure Lifecycle Management is a term coined by the real estate sector. It covers the management of all core processes around planning, construction, operation, maintenance and commercialization of buildings or property...

 software applications for the engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

, construction and real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 industries. BIW and conject AG formed a new group offering applications to support asset-based projects throughout their infrastructure lifecycle: from concept, design and construction through to facilities management. With offices in nine countries worldwide, the group had combined revenues of around €18 million, with 180 employees and approximately 170,000 active users.

BIW's customers include Sainsbury's, BAA, Argent Group plc

Argent Group PLC

Argent Group plc is a leading UK-based property developer founded in 1981. The company was formed as an investment for the pension fund of British Telecom, and was responsible for the redevelopment of Brindleyplace in Birmingham and developments around Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester.Current...

, Mace

Mace (company)

Mace Group Ltd, commonly known as Mace, is a global consultancy and construction firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has operations across 49 countries, offering a variety of services that span the entire property life cycle, from fund monitoring, cost consultancy, design management,...

, Bovis Lend Lease

Bovis Lend Lease

Lend Lease Project Management & Construction is the international project management and construction division of Lend Lease Group.-History:...

, Land Securities, Defence Estates

Defence Estates

Defence Infrastructure Organisation is an operating arm of the Ministry of Defence , in the United Kingdom, which is responsible for the built and rural estate. The organisation formed on 1 April 2011 after a reorganisation of the Ministry of Defence's bodies in charge of infrastructure. It...

, Interserve

Interserve

Interserve plc is an international support services and construction company based in the UK, with revenue of £1.9 billion and a workforce of 50,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Reading, Berkshire and is listed on the London Stock Exchange...

 and Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer

Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...

.

Finances

Unlike some rivals, BIW remained independent of construction industry investors, with most of its initial funding coming from private investors, who held shares in a holding company, BIW plc.

According to Companies House

Companies House

Companies House is the United Kingdom Registrar of Companies and is an Executive Agency of the United Kingdom Government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills . All forms of companies are incorporated and registered with Companies House and file specific details as required by the...

 submissions, BIW Technologies Ltd achieved revenues of £7.3m in the year to 30 September 2008, generating a profit of £1.1m. At this time, the company was reported to be planning a £25m to £40m listing on London's AIM

Alternative Investment Market

AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....

. However, the company suffered during the post credit-crunch recession

Late-2000s financial crisis

The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...

partly due to its exposure to the Dubai market, with revenues cut to £5.9m and BIW declaring a pre-tax loss of £731,000.

The company recapitalised in September 2009, with BIW plc being put into administration, a process that rendered the company debt-free.