Gather Appoints CEMAR Founder Ben Walker as New Commercial Director

Gather, the market-leading platform for capturing and managing site records digitally, is proud to announce the appointment of Ben Walker as its new Commercial Director.

Widely respected for his extensive experience with contract management and digital transformation, Walker founded CEMAR in 2003 to help large-scale infrastructure projects manage New Engineering Contracts (NEC) and International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) contracts.

CEMAR proved instrumental in delivering iconic projects for National Highways, Nuclear New Build, ITER, Heathrow Airport, HS2, Network Rail, and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Its rapid adoption across the industry led to its acquisition by Thinkproject in 2018.

“We made complex contract management simple with CEMAR. Now, it’s time to make record keeping simple with Gather.” 

Walker sees opportunity in transforming how site data is captured and managed. The benefits of digitising site records extends beyond having a ready-to-go pool of evidence for payment and change. It has the power to transform reactive data collection into proactive analysis and forecasts, while introducing discipline, traceability and high-level trust among all parties involved. 

“Site records do not need to be complex. Gather provides a simple, digital solution by creating a shared repository of site records – the collaborative single truth of site activities. This is the next big lever to pull.” Walker looks forward to adding value to more infrastructure construction projects.

William Doyle, CEO of Gather, is excited to welcome Walker on board: "With his proven expertise in contract management and entrepreneurial vision, Ben will undoubtedly drive forward our mission to accelerate sustainable construction. His insights into the myriad challenges faced by infrastructure construction teams will empower us to define best practices in record management for delivering large-scale infrastructure projects."

With over twenty years of experience in the construction industry, Walker started his career in 2001. After attaining his degree in civil engineering, he worked in a variety of site and office-based roles. The lack of coordination, consistency, and clear workflows in managing complex, multi-party contracts led him to create CEMAR, now part of Thinkproject.

Besides leading CEMAR, in 2018 Walker joined the NEC Contracts division of Thomas Telford Limited, a subsidiary of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) as a trainer. He has taught  thousands of delegates. Between 2012 and 2018, Walker worked as an examiner of Law & Contract Management Examinations for ICE. He joined the NEC4 drafting team in 2015 and continues to provide NEC consultancy.