A strong and resilient business with continued commitment to our clients and our people
6th April 2020
In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, HKA established crisis management teams across our business in early February to accomplish three key goals:
Protect our people and their families from the pandemic
Ensure seamless and uninterrupted service to our clients, and
Maintain our strong cash reserves to ensure long term resilience through the crisis.
We are pleased to report that we continue to manage the current situation well, and thankfully have no recorded cases of Covid-19 amongst HKA colleagues to date. We are now fully operational in a remote working environment, delivering to clients and protecting our people.
We
entered this crisis as a very successful business with strong cash reserves and
have further strengthened that position over the last two months.
We
are very aware that we have a core set of professional services that remain
critical to our clients, and fortunate that these can still be deployed and
delivered remotely. We have worked hard to maintain a seamless continued
service delivery to our clients, to whom we are deeply appreciative for their
trust and support in making this possible.
A few
of the many great examples so far include:
Continued deployment of our global reach – we have key expert and claims resources from the Middle East, Asia and Australia remotely supporting several expert-led commissions and DABs in South Africa. We have also continued to enhance our capabilities during the last few weeks with targeted recruitment of key Partner experts, for example in Canada and in Europe, and continue selectively with our growth initiatives.
Testifying by video conference – in the last few weeks four of our top experts have given evidence remotely to tribunals, without issues – Saudi Arabia to UK, UK to Canada and Australia to Singapore.
Launch of the HKA Claims Governance and Management Tool – following calls from clients facing the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic on their projects and contract management, we fast-tracked the final development of a digital tool designed to help clients maintain compliance with clear oversight and control of claims.
Published our Ten Point Checklist – we issued a quick guide to help contractors navigate through the most important steps which must be taken to protect themselves commercially during this crisis.
Introduced our Complimentary Advice Clinic – we have established a complimentary Advice Clinic to provide tailored, practical assistance, advice and guidance on all standard and bespoke forms of contract used across all sectors of the construction industry to support clients in all regions around the globe.
Virtually facilitating major transactions – our Advisory team in Australia continues to successfully progress the procurement of a Government sponsored major capital infrastructure program, including facilitation of a market sounding initiative that was attended virtually by over 150 potential bidding parties.
Initiated virtual round-tables for sharing best practice – through the ABA Construction Forum in the USA, for example, we instituted a series of virtual roundtable discussions to bring industry leaders together to discuss ideas and share suggestions on how they are dealing with the business aspects of COVID-19.
We
would also like to thank our colleagues in HKA for the amazing and innovative ways
that they have responded and adapted flexibly to the fundamental changes required
of us all in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We recognize the challenges of transitioning
to a new way of working, the uncertainties that exist for us at this time and
the additional pressures that we all now operate under in managing our work,
delivering high quality to clients and juggling our newly defined private
lives!
Rest assured
that we, as HKA’s senior team, are working tirelessly to understand and manage
the continuously evolving situation in the best possible way for our clients,
our people and our shareholders.
We
are being proactive in constantly reviewing and taking actions within the
company to make our business as resilient as possible to the effects of this fast-moving
situation. We want to reassure you that we remain a strong
and innovative business, here to support our clients and people for the long
term.
We are very aware that we have a core set of professional services that remain critical to our clients, and fortunate that these can still be deployed and delivered remotely. We have worked hard to maintain a seamless continued service delivery to our clients, to whom we are deeply appreciative for their trust and support in making this possible.”
