A world-class infrastructure consultant operating in 15 countries, Archetype Group is transforming Asia’s landscapes with proactive, entrepreneurial perspectives.
CONSTRUCTION MADE CREATIVE
Infrastructure is set to spark Southeast Asia’s economic boom, owed to the expectation that spending on construction projects will grow substantially during the coming years.
According to PwC, for example, construction spending in Indonesia will grow to around $165 billion by 2025, while industry expenditures in Malaysia and the Philippines are forecast to grow at approximately nine and 10 percent a year respectively during the same timeframe.
As such, the opportunities in Asia are slated to represent almost 60 percent of the global market within the next six years, providing an abundant increase in demand that innovative industry figureheads such as Archetype Group are poised to capitalise on.
“We’re proud to be a leading construction consultancy for world-class projects,” explains Mark Prowting, the Managing Director of Archetype Group’s Indonesian operations. “We harness the creativity of our people, enabling the company to be a pioneering and passionate multi-disciplinary business.”
Having begun life as a team of just eight employees stationed in Vietnam (seven in Hanoi and one in Ho Chi Minh City) in September 2002, the company has continued to go from strength to strength.
“We quickly expanded in Cambodia,” adds Prowting, “and soon after reached Thailand in 2004, India in 2005, France in 2006 and Laos in 2009. We also established Archetype Environment in partnership with Berim and Altereo during this time – our environmental consultancy.”
From these firm foundations, the past decade has seen Archetype Group equally gather presence in Indonesia, Mongolia, Qatar, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, China, Singapore and the Philippines, with its operations now spanning vast swathes of Asia and parts of Europe.
NURTURING NEW CAPABILITIES
Coupled with these expansions have been a number of key strategic acquisitions, namely Archetype Group’s incorporation of the Asia Pacific operations of Tebodin in 2016 – a Dutch company specialising in industrial projects.
“Through this, our APAC employee headcount reached 1,100 and the number of staff in our industrial division rose to 500, all while adding China and Singapore to our footprint in the process,” Prowting reveals.
This steep growth curve, both in terms of stature and expertise, has not wavered throughout the company’s 17-year history, the enterprise having amalgamated an extensive portfolio of industrial project references during this time.
“These include factories and complexes for companies including Crown, Heineken, Khmer Brewery, Knauf, ABB, Dow Chemicals, Procter & Gamble, Schneider, Heinz, Unilever, Danone, Coca-Cola, Campbells, Mondelez, and ExxonMobil,” adds Prowting.
Equally, early 2019 marked the company’s acquisition of French engineering firm BECT which now operates as an additional subsidiary under the name Archetype BECT.
The Indonesia MD continues: “We’ve strengthened our technical resources in French, allowing us to offer turnkey consultancy services to French-speaking and European companies wishing to pursue projects in Asia and other emerging markets, as well as Asian companies with developments in Europe.”
AN EMPLOYER OF CHOICE
Archetype Group’s progressive aspirations have not been limited to just the expansion of the business, however. Equally the company has sought to embody excellence on other fronts, evident in its reputation as an employer of choice for both the industry and the regions in which it operates.
To this end, the firm has rolled out its Employee Care initiative geared towards both attaining and retaining the best team possible.
Prowting reveals: “Other than competitive compensation and benefit strategy, we ensure that our staff are among the frontrunners in quality service delivery – we understand that our ultimate asset is our people.
“For training and development, in addition to conventional classroom-style courses, Archetype Group has established the Archetype Academy, an e-learning platform which is accessible by and user-friendly to our employees. We have various modules and subjects of trainings within this, ranging from architectural rendering to presentation skills, from building information modelling (BIM) to hazard operability (HAZOP), and negotiation skill development to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) certification.”
The chance to work for Archetype Group has not been limited either, the company proudly looking to hire locally for numerous positions across its site operations, while also providing equal opportunities to various nationalities and individuals with disabilities.
This people-first approach can also be found in the company’s multitude of corporate social investment programmes that include charity and not-for-profit initiatives at Group level.
“One example that springs to mind is our House of Hope Project – a facility for children in need that is located in West Nusa, Tengarra,” reveals Prowting. “Our commitment here is designing the project as free of charge without lowering our strict quality engineering standard practices.”
Calling upon some more local initiatives in Indonesia, the country MD is quick to highlight Archetype Group’s bi-monthly CSR programme that is run from Jakarta.
“Since its inception, our focus has been on stimulating and nurturing social awareness among our staff,” he adds in reference to the programme, “and particularly on the importance of education. It has reached an informal school in a scavenger compound, where our staff shared tea and snacks with children one afternoon and then helped improve the school’s learning equipment.”
These practices combined with the optimistic outlook surrounding the Asian construction industry and Archetype Group’s steep growth curve within this mean the business stands to further bolster its esteemed reputation looking ahead.
Prowting concludes, eluding once more to the company’s core differentiators: “Our team combines fresh-thinking, international expertise
and unrivalled local knowledge to deliver successful projects. We are conscious of our social responsibility as a professional organisation in providing solutions that bring together a sustainable natural and built environment.”
