EHAB raises venture round to tackle weather risk in construction

EHAB raises venture round to tackle weather risk in construction

(Press release EHAB:), 13 October 2020 - British start-up, EHAB, leads a consortium of world class UK-based organisations to improve weather-related risk management and compensation handling across the UK’s £110 billion construction sector.

  • EHAB close £320k pre-seed raise led by Insurtech Gateway, alongside Startup Funding Club and Lan to Capital
  • Revolutionising weather risk management with IoT, DLT and Parametric Insurance
  • Piloting technology with BAM Nuttall and Ferrovial Construction on five construction sites

Climate change is making it more difficult to predict weather patterns and when combined with the upward trend of extreme weather, construction is being exposed to greater levels of weather risk, the costs of which already run into the billions globally each year. EHAB is a venture backed startup using big data, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and internet of things (IoT) to streamline weather risk management for the construction industry.

‘EHAB are transforming how large construction projects are managed by building the first fully-automated, data-driven risk management solution for this industry. We are very impressed how the team are approaching such a complex challenge.’ Richard Chattock, CEO, Insurtech Gateway

EHAB are the lead partner on The Weather Ledger, a collaborative 12 month project funded by Innovate UK, which brings together world leading innovators to demonstrate the value of leveraging DLT and IoT in the construction industry. BAM Nuttall and Ferrovial Construction offer critical industry insights and pilots for demonstrating the impact of the project, Clyde & Co. provide specialist input to build EHAB’s legally-compliant ‘smart contracts’, Connected  Places Catapult are driving standardisation and uptake across the sector, and Digital Catapult provide technical review and advice on IoT and blockchain technology.

‘Agile and fresh partners such as EHAB can objectively examine the way we do things in the industry and work on how to overcome the embedded behaviours and practices that are stifling productivity growth.’


Colin Evison, Head of Innovation, BAM Nuttall

The appetite for innovation is evident throughout both Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall, with engagement from a plethora of stakeholders, including foremen, senior agents and heads of departments. The platform is now being tested live on five projects across the UK and it’s clear that such cutting edge advancements are only made possible with buy-in from across these construction partners.

‘Our construction partners in BAM and Ferrovial Construction have been a pleasure to work with, and absolutely integral to the development of this solution. It shows the huge potential that innovative collaboration has to offer the industry.’ Josh Graham, CEO, EHAB

Recently published discussion papers, authored by Digital Catapult, on the topics of Industry Insights and User Insights provide a snapshot into the UK construction sectors largest challenges. Based on industry expertise both papers provide further reading on the vast potential that The Weather Ledger can offer in light of the sector’s need to modernise, digitise and keep healthy profit margins.

‘Clyde & Co is delighted to participate in the collaborative efforts to develop the Weather Ledger as a legal solution to weather matters in construction contracting. As a law firm which is at the forefront of smart contracts and technological innovation we see the Weather Ledger as becoming the go to method of dealing with weather related events in construction contracts.’ David Hansom, Partner, Clyde & Co.

The solution uses weather data from sensors placed on site to track hyperlocal weather. This data is stored in a distributed ledger; shared between all the parties to the contract, and smart, legally compliant contracts, trigger if predefined thresholds are breached. This expedites several layers of admin and reduces the likelihood of dispute as the infrastructure of a distributed ledger ensures the dataset is untampered and therefore reflects reality. The additional features of the platform see decades of weather data and a risk matrix combining to provide key insight for planners and bid writers, helping them avoid weather risk when scheduling. The final piece of this solution uses the same smart contract technology to offer a smart policy. This is a parametric insurance policy which helps contractors cap their exposure to risk and benefits from the same streamlined approach, ensuring that delay costs can be mitigated and help projects smooth their profit curve and get back on track.

‘The value of innovation in our sector is far-reaching and highly beneficial to all stakeholders. This is why innovation is a strategic priority for Ferrovial Construction. The team at EHAB have created a tool that will enable adhesion to programme, mitigate risk and join all parties together in recorded data in real time for commercial benefit to all. We are extremely happy to assist with the investment and testing phase of such a useful tool.” Elena Perea, Agent, Ferrovial Construction and partner lead to Weather Ledger project.

Weather is an ever-present topic in British life and industry. Current risk management strategies are inefficient, and in most cases, inadequate. Through The Weather Ledger, companies can improve their visibility of ultra-local weather conditions, use big data to plan schedules more optimally and mitigate the impacts of  weather delay. This will lead to increased productivity, reduced expenditure, improved cash flow, and more timely project delivery.

Visit https://ehab.co/ to find out how The Weather Ledger can de-risk your portfolio and to learn more about the project and its partners.

Press contact: josh.graham@ehab.co

About BAM Nuttall

BAM Nuttall, along with BAM Construct and BAM PPP in the UK, is one of Royal BAM Group nv’s ten operating companies, delivering exceptional engineering, design, construction, property management and investment services. BAM has approximately 20,000 employees and is a listed company at Euronext Amsterdam. BAM’s mission to build sustainable environments that enhance people’s lives by enabling the right people to capitalise on state-of-the-art knowledge, resources and digital technologies, providing solutions across the total construction life cycle for the Group’s clients and generating maximum value for its stakeholders.

About Clyde & Co

Clyde & Co is a leading global law firm, specialising in the sectors that underpin global trade and commercial activity, namely: insurance, transport, infrastructure, energy, and trade and commodities. It is globally integrated, offering a comprehensive range of contentious and non-contentious legal services and commercially-minded legal advice to businesses operating across developed and developing markets. Clyde & Co is committed to operating in a responsible way. This means progressing towards a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the diversity of its communities and clients, using its legal skills to support its communities through pro bono work, volunteering and charitable partnerships, and minimising the impact it has on the environment. The firm has 440 partners, 1800 lawyers, 2500 legal professionals and 4000 staff in over 50 offices and associated offices worldwide.

About Connected Places Catapult

Connected Places Catapult harnesses UK innovation to accelerate the adoption of new ideas and technologies to help create connected places for a more productive and greener future. We operate at the intersection between public and private sectors and between local government and transport authorities. Our focus is on connecting businesses to cutting-edge research and technologies in order to spark new possibilities and accelerate the creation of innovative products and services which will deliver improvements to the way we live, work, play and travel — and grow the UK economy in the process.

About Digital Catapult

Digital Catapult is the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation centre, driving the adoption of advanced digital technologies to make UK businesses more competitive and productive to grow the country’s economy. We connect large established companies, startup and scaleup businesses and researchers working with artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, and future networks (5G & LPWAN) to discover new ways to solve big challenges in the manufacturing and creative industries. Through this collaboration businesses are supported to develop the right technologies to solve problems, increase productivity and open up new markets faster. Digital Catapult provides physical and digital facilities for experimentation and testing that would otherwise not be accessible for smaller companies. As well as breaking down barriers to technology adoption for startups and scaleups, our work de-risks innovation for large enterprises and uncovers new commercial applications in the advanced digital technologies that underpin a modern industrial economy. For more info visit https://www.digicatapult.org.uk/

About EHAB

EHAB is a five person startup with ambitions to radically improve the way construction companies deal with risk through cutting edge technologies. They see construction as one of the fundamental industries needed to solve the global challenges we face, and the industry needs an upgrade if it is to rise to this challenge.

About Ferrovial Construction

Ferrovial, a leading global infrastructure operator, is committed to developing sustainable solutions. It is a member of Spain's blue-chip IBEX 35 index and is also included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good; all its operations are conducted in compliance with the principles of the UN Global Compact, which the company adopted in 2002. Ferrovial Construction manages major, complex, multidisciplinary design and construction projects around the world, in sectors including rail, highways, tunnels, marine, airports and energy. Established in this market since 2003, we design and construct some of the UK and Ireland’s most high-profile transport infrastructure projects. We have the strength and depth to deliver complex major projects in-house, drawing on international expertise and full asset lifecycle capability. We provide our clients with cost-effective, value-added solutions and responsibly design and build assets for people and places.

About Insurtech Gateway

The only FCA authorised independent incubator + fund, the Insurtech Gateway is the fastest place to build and launch an insurtech idea. The insurance industry has so many barriers to entry, founders often run out of energy and money just trying to get in. The Gateway removes these barriers for founders, providing underwriting paper, investment capital and advice on how to design and build their startup, all surrounded by great insurance partners. The Gateway fund supports the portfolio post incubation, to Series A and beyond. Insurers often struggle to innovate within their own businesses, the Gateway enable insurers to do this in a safe environment. They facilitate insurers, technology partners and insurtechs to get to know each other and work together, over the whole duration of building a business. The Gateway would like to meet early-stage founders with game-changing ideas or products, and progressive (re)insurers who are interested in collaboration.