21 years on from forming software company Asta Development, three of the four co-founders together with 48 staff are celebrating. Based in Thame with customers in over 20 countries worldwide, they have become leaders in Project Management Software supporting some of the biggest projects in construction including the building of the Emirates Stadium for Arsenal Football Club, the London Eye, the Eden Project, the new National Assembly for Wales and the new ‘super hospital’ that is currently being built in Birmingham. 

After leaving university and building up their work experience, four friends, Michael McCullen, Richard Pleace, Charles Sinclair and Richard Ormerod set up the company in Thame. What they started was the development of project, portfolio and resource management software. 

It all began with Asta Powerproject, a professional project management software tool for the construction industry, which was first released in 1988.  The idea for this groundbreaking software came after Richard Ormerod worked as a research fellow with the Department of Construction Management & Economics at the University of Reading.

His idea was to help construction companies create plans, manage projects, costs and resources as well as communicate construction project progress using a linked bar chart that also showed in visual terms the critical path of the project – this linked bar chart concept was a first in the UK and a represented real breakthrough in the way construction projects are managed.   To do this he teamed up with three software developers Michael McCullen, Richard Pleace and Charles Sinclair. The outcome was an easy-to-use, yet powerful visual project management software tool that was quickly embraced by the construction industry.

Today, thousands of planners in the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA use Asta Powerproject, as well as a growing range of new software products, to successfully plan and manage construction projects of all sizes. Asta delivered such a useful tool that today over 70% of successful construction projects are planned and managed using the latest version of the software*.  Asta Powerproject is also used by the 43 of the top 50 UK main contractors and 13 of the top 15 UK house builders**.

In the late 1990s, Asta Development created a new project and resource management solution to address the needs of departments and small and medium-size organisations. This solution, called Asta Teamplan, is now used in a broad range of service-based industries to balance project priorities, manage teams and their workloads and help drive business forward through effective project portfolio management.

In the 21 years that Asta has been in business over a third of the staff has worked for the company for more than ten years. Three co-founders are still heavily involved in the business with Michael McCullen steering the company as Managing Director. They have over 40,000 users spread all over the world and have developed a sophisticated network of distributors that trains and supports customers in over seven languages.

“Looking back over the last 21 years I am very proud of what the team has achieved,” said Michael McCullen the Managing Director. “We have very solid roots here in the UK but our influence spreads all over the world. I hope the next 21 years is just as much fun and just as successful for us.”

Asta is always looking for new enhancements for their products and challenging their staff with ways of adding value and keeping ahead of the market. One of the latest development projects is looking at adding a four dimensional view to their project management software, where time is the fourth dimension.   This will provide project managers and their clients with the ability to visualise in a 3D walk-through simulation exactly how the building will look at any point in its development.  

Last year Asta joined Eleco plc with Michael McCullen, Managing Director of Asta Development, taking a seat on the board and heading up the software division of Eleco plc as Chief Executive of Eleco Construction Software.

“We are delighted, not only to have Asta join the Eleco group but on behalf of all of the Eleco team I would like to congratulate them on such a successful 21 years in business,” said John Ketteley, Executive Chairman of Eleco Plc. “Asta has become a leader within their field and we are very excited to be able to share in their success and wish them all the best for the next 21 years.”

* Source: Chartered Institute of Building, 2005

** Source: Building Magazine, Big Fish/Little Fish, November 2006