Smith joins from Wates Residential where he has worked for more than 15 years during an extensive career in construction bidding.

Smith started with his first role at Wates as Bid Manager, progressing onto numerous positions within the  organisation including Bid Centre Manager, followed by his most recent role as Pre Construction Director.

Initially trained as an estimator, Matt has over 30 years’ experience in the construction  industry and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Building.

His key priorities in the same role at Real will be to maintain client and consultant  relationships, encouraging career development, securing repeat business and ensuring pre construction activities result in projects that deliver a measured balance of quality and timely  delivery.

Real has ambitious growth plans to become the contractor and developer of choice in the  South and Smith will play an integral role in this through winning work and turning an already strong pipeline of projects into secured ones.

He said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Real. The move presents a new challenge that I can channel my enthusiasm for solving problems and finding  the right solutions for clients to progress with projects.

“The construction industry is continuously evolving and I’m passionate about understanding  the latest building methods and technologies that are emerging to meet the challenges of  climate change and achieving net zero carbon targets. Through these passions I look  forward to putting into practice at Real some of the recent things I have learnt and seen.”

Paul Nicholls, CEO at Real, said: “Here at Real we want to create a business that cares.  Having been in the construction industry for over 25 years I have seen individuals develop  fantastic careers, including Matt.

“His appointment marks another step in Real’s progression to growing a team that genuinely  cares about the work we do and takes all the action necessary to ensure we’re providing the  best service for our clients.”