Guildhawk-Gammon Construction MOU signing

Below is the transcript of the MOU signing that officially launched this exciting partnership.

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MC:

Good morning to our friends in the UK and good afternoon to our friends and everyone in Hong Kong. Welcome to this very special MOU signing ceremony, certainly a first of its kind for Gammon and presumably for Guild Hawk and the DIT as well. So I would like to take a chance to give a brief introduction to who we have gotten in the rooms.

First of all, we are honoured to have Mr. Nick Heath, the Director General Trade and Investment of the British Consulate General Hong Kong. We also have the pleasure of Ms. Jurga Zilinskiene from London and the team of Guildhawk in the room.

And from Gammon’s side, two executive directors. Mr. Paul Evans, our executive director and the CTO. We also have Ashley Howard, who is also [one of] our executive director[s], and we’ve also got the rest of the innovation team in the room.  And myself, I of course, should introduce, am George and I will be your MC today.

And in fact, I’ve actually got my partner here and I will call her Miss Guildhawk. She will give us [an] introduction [to] the ceremony… so we’ll invite Miss Guildhawk to the screen.

Guildhawk Voice Avatar:

Welcome to the official signing of the MOU between Guildhawk and Gammon Construction.

This ceremony signals the formal launch of the Gammon – Guildhawk partnership, whose aim is to bring built environments into the future, and improve safety through digitisation and AI technologies – just like me.

Before proceeding to the signing, we will hear a few words from Director General for Trade and Investment at the British Consulate General, Nick Heath, as well as Guildhawk’s CEO and Founder, Jurga Zilinskiene, and Gammon’s Executive Director & CTO, Paul Evans.

歡迎來到 Guildhawk 與金門建築合作諒解備忘錄簽署儀式。這將標誌金門建築與Guildhawk正式啟動全新合作夥伴關係，目標是讓人工智慧全面進入建築週期，通過數碼化令施工環境更具效率，更為安全。

簽署儀式前，英國總領事館貿易及投資司司長 Nick Heath 以及 Guildhawk; 首席執行官兼創始人 Jurga Zilinskiene 和金門建築執行董事兼首席科技總監 Paul Evans 將會為大家作主題發言。

So, without further ado, I shall pass you over to today’s proceedings. Please enjoy the ceremony.

事不宜遲，今天儀式正式開始。

MC:

I can confirm the Cantonese translation it’s spot-on and they’re very right to say that. Maybe we have the pleasure to have Nick to give us a speech on this E-Ceremony.

Nick Heath:

Thank you indeed. And actually, that is the first time I’ve ever been introduced by an avatar and I suspect it won’t be the last, so that’s a great Rubicon to have crossed.

I’m actually delighted to join you this afternoon, and we are thrilled to be part of the signing of this MOU. You know, a lot of people here in Hong Kong say that construction is entering a golden age. And I think that the ambitious plans that the Hong Kong government on behalf of construction are very clear and very obvious, but the golden age, I think it extends beyond those plans to actually the technology and the innovation the industry is bringing to Hong Kong.

I’m really proud as a representative of the UK, that UK companies and UK innovation is at the forefront of that change. And that we’re already, I think well-represented in the Hong Kong market through a number of partnerships, most notably with Gammon itself. Ultimately… our representatives in Hong Kong are creating a better environment for the building industry. They’re improving site safety and they’re reducing risks, and all of which is going to create a smarter and more sustainable built environment for all of us.

I think the example of Guildhawk and Gammon really reflects that admirably. Guildhawk have already won a Queen’s Award for AI-powered technologies; we’ve just seen some of that multilingual transformation at work. And I think in an industry where there are a range of different languages being spoken here in Hong Kong, it will add real value to have the technology that Guildhawk can bring to the table. And I’m excited to see where this collaboration and this partnership go.

As DIT here in Hong Kong, we’re committed to facilitating business interactions and networks between UK industry and its Hong Kong counterparts. I’m delighted that, Gammon in particular have been a real partner for us in a range of different areas. And I think that that partnership is going to be one that goes from strength to strength over the coming years.

But for now, let me just say thank you for having me, congratulations on this signing, and I’m really excited to see where this collaboration will go. I think there’s great potential. Thanks very much.

MC:

Thank you, Nick. We now have Miss Jurga to give us a vision on this collaboration.

Jurga Zilinskiene:

Thank you, Nick. We are very, very excited about this collaboration. As, as we are seeing the dawn of digitization and the construction industry in Hong Kong and worldwide, and building smart cities that are safe and happy and inspiring places for all of us to enjoy.

And I’m happy to bring Guildhawk’s AI-powered technology that holds in a way, a key to unlock … greater opportunities in the construction industry. This is like breaking the enigma codes – that’s the way we’re seeing this collaboration.

It is an honour to be partnering with Gammon Construction and for the Guildhawk team to be part of wonderful and exciting Digital G program. And I would like to say, thank you to the DIT team in Hong Kong for making this partnership come together. And, uh, this is an effort, and a true collaboration of so many wonderful parties. We are very much looking forward to building these wonderful new things together with Gammon and their fabulous team.

MC:

Thank you Jurga. Paul, maybe you can speak now?

Paul Evans:

I remember back to the first email that Stephanie sent me introducing, Guildhawk . And my first reflection is how does that fit into construction? You know?

 It was after maybe a day reflection that you can [see it] actually – you touched on it earlier – some of our projects may have four or five different nationalities working there. A lot of our publications are [only] in English or maybe bilingual with the Chinese character.

It quickly became so much more to me, in particularly when I saw the avatar and some of the work that my team has been doing: the air freight facilities, management and training, and being able to bring that technology in a different way into our business, that can touch a much bigger population. There are so many more opportunities than perhaps my initial narrow view.

When I first looked at the website, I thought, well, this is quite interesting, but where does it fit into Gammon? Into the construction business? But then the other part that came to me, is that when you look at a city like Hong Kong, [there are] so many very old buildings here. We talk about digitization of the newer projects, but you’ve got so many old projects there that rely on… a big stack of paper manuals or old paper drawings.

One of the visions I’ve got, and we’re a long way off realizing, or even starting that journey yet, is how do we digitize old Hong Kong? And we go from a paper document   to an editable word document that we can then convert into a voice, or video that can use the training and so on.

To me, the more you looked at this, the connections between just taking what seems to be on the face of it, quite simple translation software solution, has got so many other opportunities if you can just think a little bit bigger.

From a Gammon perspective, we’re still early days, we’re still growing our ideas; lots of ideas on the tape. I think now, [the question is] how do we connect the right technologies together? And how can we create… an end-to-end solution. So, we get a best-in-class technology here, connect that with another type of technology, with another one, and we ended it with a really strong, powerful solution.

Guildhawk fits into that quite neatly because we are a multilingual city here and we can expand that into the GBA (Greater Bay Area). When that starts to open up, the opportunities are quite boundless.

On a personal note, I remember the first call I had with Jurga and David, I think I spent 45 minutes or more just talking as though we’ve been old friends. And I think when you start a partnership, a lot of it’s about personality. My biggest fan on LinkedIn is David, he is always the first one to like or comment. And to me, that’s what business is about. It’s about relationships and it’s about having a common vision going forward and opening up new opportunities.

Personally, I’m very happy to be here signing today and really kickstarting the collaboration, and speaking [on behalf] of Gammon as well, we’re very excited where this journey is going to take us. So, thank you again.

MC:

Brilliant. Thank you for the inspiring speeches from the executives.

Without further ado, may I know ask Jurga and Paul to officially sign the MOU with a witness from Nick. Thank you.