25 August 2010

University spin-out company launches groundbreaking software

Whole Life Consultants Ltd, a spin out company from the University of Dundee, has launched groundbreaking software to help businesses minimise costs.

Whole life costing is a business discipline concerned with assessing the total cost of ownership over the life of an asset, and may include areas of expenditure such as planning, design, construction, operations, maintenance and disposal.

The 'Whole Life Cost Evaluator' developed by WLC Ltd will help asset managers and property developers to determine design solutions and maintenance strategies that minimise the total cost of any building or other type of asset for the whole of its life.

The Dundee company, currently based at the University’s Incubator, employs three full-time and three part-time workers. Further recruitment is planned for 2011 and it is anticipated that 10 full-time workers will be employed by WLC in two year’s time.

It specialises in 'solving the problems that others cannot solve' in the fields of whole life costing, sustainability, maintenance management and labour productivity in the construction industry.

WLC Ltd commercialises the research conducted by the Construction Management Research Unit at the University. In total, the research carried out by the Unit is worth more than £5million. The CMRU is part of the Division of Civil Engineering which has consistently been rated as one of the best in Scotland.

WLC Ltd’s first licence has been purchased by Stanburys Ltd, a prize winning software development company specialising in building surveying applications and asset management.

Professor Malcolm Horner, Chairman of Whole Life Consultants Ltd, said, 'We are delighted that the first licence for this novel software should be purchased by such a prestigious client. This is an important step towards the company’s goal of developing a suite of cutting edge software in the fields of whole life costing, sustainability and productivity.

'We are particularly grateful to the Scottish Government whose SMART award made the development of the software affordable, and to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council who funded the original research.'

Stanbury’s Managing Director Roy Stanbury said, 'As a company that likes to think out of the box to deliver more client value than any of our competitors, we could see the potential of Whole Life Cost Evaluator to add significantly to the value we can offer our clients. In our view, this is the most powerful software of its type available on the market.'

The funding for the research behind Whole Life Cost Evaluator originally comprised a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) worth approximately £300,000 with a SMART award generating a further £50,000 and the company itself invested another £150,000.

Although the technology is primarily targeted at the construction industry, it can be applied to any sector. The products are off-the-shelf, but user-defined. Bespoke versions are also available.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
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E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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