Adverse weather conditions can severely delay expected project completion timelines in the construction industry. Currently, contracts between client and contractor determine how these delays can be compensated, but this can lead to long and costly legal disputes if the severity of the weather conditions experienced cannot be agreed on.
Josh Graham identified this problem when attending sessions coordinated by the Digital Catapult which brought together startups and industry leaders from the construction sector. EHAB have since developed a platform, the Weather Ledger, aimed at reducing the time and cost of weather-related disputes.
The platform first collects weather data at a hyperlocal site using weather satellites, before transferring this to a digital ‘smart contract’ using software code based on blockchain technology. The blockchain technology prevents the possibility of data tampering and the ‘smart contract’ enacts the pre-agreed terms automatically.
While the underlying technology is already commercialised, the Weather Ledger itself is at the pre-scale up stage and is expected to be commercially available within the next two years.
Read more about EHAB and the Weather Ledger project.