Nu Construction Commercial Director, Matthew Crowther MRICS MCIOB, joined the company as Commercial Manager in September 2018 and progressed to Director in October 2021. Here we look at his career journey and his role in the company today.
Matthew’s career in construction began in 1996 when he started quantity surveying still as a student for Totty Construction in Bradford. Following the completion of his studies, he returned to Totty in 1998 as an Assistant Quantity Surveyor. Spending a decade with the company, including after it had been taken over by ISG, he learnt his trade and progressed to being a Senior Quantity Surveyor. In 2008, he took up a similar role at another construction company before spending 6 years as the Commercial Director of a subcontracting firm.
During his time at Totty Construction, Matthew had worked with Simon Smith, Nu Construction's current Managing Director and had stayed in touch after Simon left to set up the company. When Matthew discovered there was a vacancy for a Commercial Manager, he applied for the post and was appointed in 2018.
Moving with the times Since joining,
Matthew has seen the company grow and adapt and puts this evolution down to the recruitment of new talent also the investment Nu Construction makes in training staff, something he believes is crucial to the firm’s longevity. Indeed, Matthew undertook additional training himself on being promoted to Commercial Director, not only to further develop his own expertise but to keep up with current trends.
As a director, Matthew is also conscious of the transformational impact the directorial team have had on the company. New procedures and more innovative ways of working have been implemented across the business including financial management, where the latest software and accounting measures have provided accurate cost control and reporting. These are further enabling growth and evolution of the company to be maintained, in turn ensuring the team always delivers the optimum results for clients.
While Matthew has been instrumental in leading some of these efforts as part of the wider team, he is keen to emphasise the work at Nu Construction is very much a team effort, with everyone contributing towards the company’s evolution.
The principal focus at Nu Construction, however, is always the client, who Matthew says are, “central to everything we do.” The approach has been key to the company’s success in gaining new clients and securing repeat business. Central to this is the management team’s forward-facing, hands-on attitude. They will always go and meet clients, make themselves available for direct contact and get involved in each project to ensure they are delivered. In a contractual market like construction, Matthew believes that Nu Construction’s face-to-face ‘hands-on’ approach to problem-solving is key to the firm’s success.
Today, Matthew and the team are working with clients in the commercial, industrial, retail, education, health, leisure and heritage sectors, with the latter involving projects that require specialist trades to work on listed buildings. Matthew is fully aware of the need to look ahead, to grow and develop the business. This involves investing in staff development, bringing in new talent, working with the right partners and diversifying the work Nu Construction does. Most important, however, is, “keeping clients happy.”
Outside of work, Matthew loves to get involved in toxophily (archery) and is an enthusiastic user of the recurve bow - the type of bow used in the Olympics.
