Products
Software we build and look after, so that how your projects should run is built in.
We help the built environment understand its systems and improve what matters
We work with organisations across the built environment to understand how their systems behave, test what might work better and put the changes into practice, whether that calls for advice, modelling or software.
Our approach
How we approach a problem
The hardest problems usually sit between the boxes on the organisation chart
A late consent shows up as a cost overrun two years later, and a maintenance budget cut this year shapes what an operator can renew in ten, so rather than looking at one department or dataset on its own we trace how people, decisions, assets and systems affect one another, and we test what would improve things with the people who actually run the operation.
How an engagement usually runs
- UnderstandAgree the decision, the outcome that matters and who knows the system best.
- Explore and modelMake assumptions and constraints explicit, then build a model that fits the question.
- Test and designRun the options, show where the model is uncertain and design the change.
- Implement and evolvePut the change into practice, measure it and update the model as evidence comes in.
Products, services and solutions
Three ways to work with us
They can be used on their own or in combination, and because we start from what you need to achieve rather than from what we would like to sell, you do not need to buy our software to get our advice.
Services
Advice, modelling and implementation from people who have delivered major programmes themselves.
Solutions
Products and services put together around a particular challenge we have met before.
Who we work with
Each part of the supply chain wants something different from the same asset
We work right across the built environment, from the bodies that set policy to the firms that make the products, and the starting point is always what each of them is trying to achieve.
CommissionGovernment, local authorities and regulatorsPublic money spent well, and policy that holds up in delivery
OwnAsset owners and operatorsAssets that perform for decades, with evidence of their condition
PromoteDevelopers and promotersSchemes that win consent and stay viable through procurement
DesignDesigners and consultantsDesigns that can be built, costed and changed without rework
MakeManufacturers and suppliersSteadier demand and a smoother flow from factory to site
InstallContractorsPackages that run to plan, with the risk understood
Technology and AI
Deciding where new technology is worth it
We help clients work out where AI, automation and other tools would actually be useful, test the case for each one and put the ones that work into practice, drawing on a knowledge base of more than seven hundred mapped AI use cases to start the discussion. Sometimes the right answer is to change nothing and get more out of the systems already in place.
A person makes the callAI output is checked against the record, and a named person makes the decision.
Uncertainty stays visibleEach model states its assumptions, its limits and how far it has been validated.
Your data stays under your controlWe usually work with information where it is held, and agree access and ownership at the start.
Our insights
Recent work and writing
Two illustrative models show how a whole operation can be followed through as one system, and the articles set out how we think about organisations, data and technology.
Illustrative model
Airports, optimised as a system
One peak hour at a two-runway hub, followed through six stages from airspace to the kerb, so that moving a lever shows which stage binds and who gains.
See the model →
Illustrative model
Ports, configured by demand
Vessel calls and cargo flow through to berth, landside space and cost, recalculated as each input changes.
See the model →
About Synaform
About us
Who we are
Synaform brings together experience of the built environment, of strategic and operational problem-solving, and of software and emerging technology, and we think difficult problems are best tackled collaboratively, with the people who know the work kept close to it and technology used to extend what they can understand and test.
Most projects run on people's memories. Good ones run on systems.
John Lohan, Co-founder and CEO
Technology is now the easy part. We help clients find the opportunities they didn't know they had.
Matthew Osment, Co-founder and CTO
Start a conversation
What needs to work better?
Tell us what is proving difficult, or what is changing, or what needs to improve. There is no need for a specification, because working out where to begin is part of what we do.
Start a conversationOr email hello@synaform.co.uk