We sat down with our new Product Manager and Head of Digital Twins, Matthew Osment, to chat about why he joined 3D Repo, and what he’s most looking forward to doing in his new role. Matthew brings a wealth of knowledge to the team and we’re really excited to have him on board! Reach out to Matthew at support@3drepo.com
What is your background and where did you work previously?
I’ve been consulting in the construction industry in various forms for the past 5 years, working predominantly with Main Contractors focusing on innovation and efficiency in Planning and Commercial activities, with a focus on BIM. Prior to that, I was a Product Design Engineer in the transportation and consumer goods space, which is where I learnt about the power of parametric modelling, 3D as a communication tool and Total Quality Management.
Why did you join 3D Repo?
I’ve been a customer of 3D Repo for over a year, using it as part of my workflows for Design Management, Quantity Take-off and 4D Planning. This led me to present at one of 3D Repo’s British Information Modelling events, where I saw the avenues that some of the other speakers were exploring and my interest grew. So when Jozef called me up and mentioned he had a position available that he thought would suit my skills I jumped at the opportunity.
What do you think can be achieved at 3D Repo?
I believe that 3D models are a great anchor of data in the construction industry. Drawings, Bills of Quantities and Programmes are all great tools for communication, but each requires an element of experience in order to decipher. Linking and visualising data through the lens of a 3D model enables more effective interactions across the stakeholders, and 3D Repo is an excellent platform to serve as this gateway. Providing our clients with the tools to tailor workflows to suit their business.
What are you most looking forward to doing at 3D Repo?
Due to the project-based nature of construction many of our existing, and prospective, clients aren’t afforded the luxury of a centrally owned software portfolio. This creates a great case for integration, which is something that has been part of my work since I started in construction. So I’m really looking forward to building out our integration offering, making it as simple as possible for end-users to push and pull data from 3D Repo. Given my experience in the commercial and planning sectors, I’m also looking forward to exploring opportunities in these areas, where teams currently have to wrestle with locally installed BIM software and big downloads from common data environments just to get a look at the 3D model.
What gets you excited about the future of this industry?
Possibly owing to my background in design engineering where the design office is integrated into the production facilities, I see a massive opportunity in repeatability and reliability, distilling construction down to its repeatable components and continually improving the processes. We’re starting to see this not just with off-site construction, but also generative design, apps that allow progress on-site to be recorded & distributed, and of course platforms such as 3D Repo which can help monitor these activities across projects and tie all the datasets together.
What are your interests and hobbies?
I recently moved out of London and into the countryside, so I’ve been enjoying turning my once a month hobby of hiking into a daily occurrence, albeit for short bursts at the moment, and I’m looking forward to getting back into bouldering at my local climbing gym once it opens back up. I’ve also turned to learning the guitar as a good isolation hobby, although without having a face to face with a teacher it can be hard to tell if it’s me or the guitar that’s out of tune.
