Having a fervent belief in the importance of filling the knowledge gap discussed above, a group of scholars based in Asia and/or researching on construction in Asia gathered online on 2 November 2021, and discussed the importance of founding a network devoted particularly to the history of construction in the old continent. The establishment of Asian Construction History Network (ACHN) was announced in the same meeting.
Indeed, the first Asian Construction History Virtual Group meeting gathered founding members from/based in China, Singapore, Iran, Japan, India, Turkey, Australia, and Europe to share their experience, expertise, and ideas to collectively decide for the start-up work. In the near future, it is expected that more scholars become involved in the ACHN. The initiators, as well as the advisory board chose the title “What is your vision of Asian networking on Construction History?” as the theme for the first virtual meeting.

Participants in the first virtual meeting discussed the challenges associated with the establishment and operation of ACHN. Some of the main issues include the followings:
- The difficulty of identifying unique/new research directions, especially when dealing with the history of construction in Asia
- The existence of limited educational courses or training workshops, as well as publications (particularly in local languages) on the history of construction at Asian universities
- The lack of a transnational platform for sharing resources on the history of construction in Asia
- The difficulty of building cross-national and cross-regional connections (in terms of preparing research content, as well as establishing areas of collaboration)
- The intense occupation of academics with their main job at research centres or universities
- The existence of various so-called red lines (in terms of socio-cultural parameters, politics, etc.) in different regions of Asia that should not be crossed.

The attention to these remarks guarantees the functionality and healthy performance of ACHN, despite geographical origins, cultural differences, and personal interests of the members.

Having these concerns in mind, a scholarly consensus on the followings was achieved:

• oResearch: having focus on identifying cutting-edge research themes/methodologies
• oResource: having focus on establishing and managing a shared platform for available resource (e.g. updating the ACHN Webpage, conference notifications, releasing a bibliographical list of publications on the building techniques of Asia);
• oEducation: having focus on defining the best practice of teaching the History of construction
• oNetworking: having focus on recruiting new members and pursuing innovative models of networking
• oAdvisory: receiving advice on the development of the ACHN in all aspects