The Co-Founders of HUDU Ltd have over 50 years of direct experience in the delivery of large and complex built environment projects.
They also have know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to project delivery and why large scale projects often suffer in delivery performance.
Today’s large scale projects are complex, fast paced and difficult to keep on track.
With the ever increasing information and data exchanged on projects, Clients, Designers and Contractors can become overwhelmed with information.
This often leads to teams missing key information or taking too long to find and define key project risks and changes. Ultimately ending in errors and costly corrections and extensions*.
This was the inspiration for us to seek to address this issue, and our mission:
To improve project outcomes by using the latest AI and ML tools to surface insight from project information, empower project teams and increase productivity.
And in March 2024 HUDU Ltd was born.
*EU Large Project claims indicate around 15% increase in CAPEX value and 60.5% EoT’s. (Source: HKA 5th Annual Report, CRUX Insight. Battling the Headwinds, A regional analysis of claims and dispute causation)
Our Story
Our Company
Our Founders
Matt Douglas and Neil Hooton are the Founders of HUDU limited, a Yorkshire based Project insight and technical assurance platform, focussed on helping project teams in the built environment achieve better outcomes and improved delivery through the power of data and the use of leading edge AI and Machine learning tools in HUDU Insight™.
Matt’s Story
Matt has over 30 years of hands on experience as both Contractor and Design Consultant in the built environment. He has dedicated this time to the delivery of complex multidisciplinary projects in many countries for a multitude of clients. Matt’s passion is breaking the status quo and seeking new and innovative approaches to delivery using advanced digital tools.
Most recently as a senior director and Subregion COO at the world renowned consultant -Arup, Matt oversaw the implementation and delivery of significant (multi billion £) programmes of work. The complexity of these prompted Matt to strive for new ways of manging the vast amounts of data that these projects and programmes were generating. With the exponential increase in data came the risk of missing key elements impacting design and delivery and having to deal with the fallout.
In 2024 Matt stepped out of Arup to focus on this problem and actively seek to drive a new, agile and reliable method of supporting complex delivery programmes in a data rich environment.
Matt has a Degree in Civil , Engineering from the University of Auckland (NZ), a Masters in Business Administration from Leeds University and attended the University of Cambridge -Judge Business School (Advanced Leadership Training).
He lives in Leeds with is partner, lives for food and travel, always has a “project” on the go at home and loves breaking the rules!
Neil’s Story
Neil has over 25 years experience in building design and delivery, digital strategy, and digital transformation. He is passionate about the appropriate use of digital tools and techniques to create game changing productivity and net zero carbon performance in property and the built environment.
Neil has lead multidisciplinary engineering teams delivering some of the most complex buildings projects in the UK, from deep basements to nuclear storage facilities and large scale events arenas. He has also led digital transformation programmes, provided digital advisory services and software development for major UK business.
With a keen interest in sustainable development and zero carbon and ensuring the projects he delivers are always rooted in the needs of the client and the user, whether that be buildings or software.
The growing complexity of projects and clients demands, along with the ongoing battle for time by already overworked professionals prompted Neil to look for better solutions to the management of ever increasingly complex delivery processes.
In 2024 he joined with Matt to focus on developing his interest in this problem and HUDU Ltd was born.
Neil has a Masters degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Leeds and has co founded and owns a number of related businesses.
He lives on the edge of Ilkley moor (bah’t hat), plays drums for a local covers band and is a bit obsessed with bread baking and pizza!