Can you tell us what is new in the bond group?

We’ve just started with two new companies within the Bond Group. I’ll speak about one at this point, the second one is not ready for launch yet. But, we are establishing ourselves with HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) consultancy and with cybersecurity.

HVAC isn’t necessarily within our core, but we are working with specialists who want to work within the Bond group and we want to work with them. What is interesting are that the processes that are followed in the pre-engineering, the design, and build phase are very similar to how our Hamburg office already handles projects. For example, we will share the same AVGA (audiovisual-general-arrangement) as before.

Bond has been in business for 12 years, how have you managed to keep a good team together?

How do I keep a good team? I think I listen to them, I try to treat them with respect. Even my trip today to the Amsterdam office isn’t necessarily brought about because I need to come, It’s that I haven’t been here for a couple of weeks and I would like to see the staff and I want to give them the opportunity to speak to me. For me, the biggest asset for Bond is the people. If you make your work your lifestyle then it doesn’t feel like work.

What are some of the latest projects you’ve been involved in, which you can say something about?

With new projects, we are involved in five Dutch shipyards which for me, since having this Amsterdam office, was a goal. There has been some shift, either in buying and owner’s teams, or openness of shipyards because all the relationships with the yards are good. With those projects, they are mostly 90m+ projects. One is a big refit that we are involved with and long-term with one of the builds we recently started last year, it’ll finish in 2022. So that’s really getting in at an early stage.

Do you see a shift in the way shipyards and owners approach the AV work and how they contract it?

They are becoming more astute about what they want to spend and what they want. Owners reps are savvier now, the days of choosing an integration company because you were best mates or you went to school with a captain, are much less. You choose a company that you trust and that friendship is built on trust, but there is a more commercial process now which I think Bond took right from the start which is design, tender out and, manage the project. I think the industry is changed for the better in that more predictable systems are able to be engineered.

With the advent of streaming services and the internet of things, do you think connectivity and subsequently the increase of internet-access, will change the way systems and hardware are set up on boats?

Connectivity is probably the biggest enabler within our segment of the yachting industry. Connectivity has allowed yachts more functionality on board without having to rely on the hardware on the vessel.

One thing we are looking forward to is the low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellites. There are two facets to connectivity; first, there’s the speed – the bandwidth – and the second is latency. With the geostationary satellites at 36500 km, they have an inherent latency which you can’t get rid of. With the low-Earth orbits, the latency can be brought down to sub 100 milliseconds. That is a trend which we are very much looking forward to.

Event systems are also becoming very important. The event system, as we call it at Bond, is typically a big display wall with bespoke content so as to give the room a certain feel. Samsung’s new “The Wall” is very impressive to see.