How I Lead a Global Digital Team with Sophie Montenot

Andrea Ciaffi

Hi, Sophie, welcome to the Digital Construction Podcast. In this episode, we sit down with Sophie MONTENOT. She's a mechanical engineer turned Global Digital Delivery Leader, Surbana Jurong. I'm very excited for this episode because she spent 20 years delivering landmark infrastructure across Middle East, Asia, and Singapore.

Andrea Ciaffi

And now she's working on the Chengi airport terminal 5 development, but she's worked on so many other projects. So this is a very good opportunity to have a conversation with her. Sophie, before we start, I would like to ask you, what is the best piece of advice you've ever received in your career?

Sophie Montenot

Hi, Andrea, and thanks for having me into your podcast, first of all. The best piece of advice that I have received is probably Don't stop until someone tells you to.

Andrea Ciaffi

Mm.

Sophie Montenot

You know, so I just carry on.

Andrea Ciaffi

That's a good point. It's A variation of do it and ask for

Sophie Montenot

Yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

forgiveness. Don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.

Sophie Montenot

Exact. Exactly.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, I think has been my motto in many occasions as well.

Sophie Montenot

Yes, if anyone you want to implement things, just do it.

Andrea Ciaffi

Just do it, just do it. Let the other people stop you. So, Sophie,

Sophie Montenot

Exactly.

Andrea Ciaffi

you started your career as a mechanical engineer, but you started in the, I'll try to say it probably in French, in the Echo Central. Yeah, you can probably tell us what the right pronunciation is, which is one of the...

Sophie Montenot

That's correct.

Andrea Ciaffi

France's most demanding engineering school.

Sophie Montenot

Hmm.

Andrea Ciaffi

But then at some point you started developing your career. But what drew you there and why did you start studying in that school? And how do you think that school that changed your approach to solving complex

Sophie Montenot

Look.

Andrea Ciaffi

problems?

Sophie Montenot

Yeah, to be honest, I fell into that school almost by default because I come from a family where my parents are blue collar. So I didn't have any guidance into university, what I should be doing, you know, like they just, my parents just encouraged me to do whatever I like and wherever I was good at.

Sophie Montenot

And I was good at maths, good at science. I like having concrete results. And therefore, because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, I just went and choose the most generic or the one, the school that would offer me the most field that I could study.

Sophie Montenot

And before you enter this type of school in France, you actually need to prepare two years of intensive course in order to apply for the exam. And once you pass the exam, the school will only pick the first top 100 students out of the exam that has been passed.

Sophie Montenot

So during these two years, I would say, even more than the school training itself. So we have two years of intensive training. I have learned to quickly study. and to analyze what is the most important in a problem. So that is a way also to learn under pressure, because we have 42 hours of course per week.

Sophie Montenot

And each Saturday morning was 4 hours of a test. and you work under pressure all the time. So that has taught us to really quickly adapt to any situation. And then when we were going into the engineering school, it almost was like holidays.

Sophie Montenot

It was like, oh my God, this is so easy suddenly. But then I enjoyed the different topics and fields that we were studying. And then, of course, at some point I had to choose. So I went into more mechanical engineering, studying the, how to say, like how a building works as a general topic.

Sophie Montenot

And because my teacher at the time at the university, at the school was telling me that is where you will always find work. You know, there is always be building to be built, there will always be infrastructure to be built, and there will always be something to do to you will never be.

Sophie Montenot

at over, which has been true so far. Yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

That's totally true. And yeah, I also study engineering and I found that it was a very, it's a school that is very useful in life because it helps you think differently, think in a way that is very structured.

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

And even you describe yourself as a mechanical engineer, right? And sometimes I wonder, like from your point of view, how do you balance this side of yourself where you are very technical, at the same time, you need to think about how do you lead with a digital strategy that sometimes

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

can be vague. And is this like the part of your brain that is an engineer create tension with the other side, or do you think that actually it reinforces, each side reinforces one another?

Sophie Montenot

Actually, I think that because I have the engineering mindset, it makes it easier for me to deal with tools in a way that it's more, it's methodology, you know? So if you have, if you are cable as an engineer, you have a methodology to apply.

Sophie Montenot

and you need to be quite tedious in your way of applying a strategy. So if that methodology applies to your digital strategy, then it will work the same. And I found that because of being a mechanical engineer, being a mechanical trade, you can't be on your own.

Sophie Montenot

You always have to care for others, you know, because you are mechanical. Infinity, you have to have the CNS component, you have to have the architectural component. So you can't build a building just on your own without any of that. So you always have to coordinate with external stakeholder.

Sophie Montenot

always have to coordinate with your peer within the building. So that's how I found that the mechanical engineering has helped me moving forward because I've always been coordinating in all the different positions I've been holding.

Andrea Ciaffi

And after that, after all these studies, you ended up building a global career. You know, there are many people that study engineering or architecture and they stay where they've studied, that they don't go elsewhere. But there is also a smaller group that try to explore different areas.

Andrea Ciaffi

So you're working, as I mentioned at the beginning, you work in Singapore, in Southeast Asia.

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

You mentioned before we started recording that you are moving again.

Sophie Montenot

Yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

So just unstoppable, right? So nobody has stopped you yet.

Sophie Montenot

Yeah. No.

Andrea Ciaffi

So yeah, I was wondering, like, did you build this global career deliberately or just up and organically?

Sophie Montenot

Well, it's funny. I mean, okay, so I'll share a secret. When I was at school, I was really bad in English. I think I had to beg to get my TOEFL at time because I was like, everybody speaks English. Why should I speak English?

Sophie Montenot

And I could speak Spanish better than English. when I graduated. But as I started working in Paris, I quickly felt that if I wanted to gain more into my career, I needed to go overseas. It was a myth, I don't know, but this was what I thought.

Sophie Montenot

And I was like, in my head, okay, I have a five years plan. I need to leave. I go overseas for five years. So I took the opportunity to do that with the French government, who actually has a system to send a young graduate into French companies that are hosted overseas.

Sophie Montenot

which is within a safe environment because you have like contract with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, so which is all set up for you. And I took this opportunity and this is how I landed in Shenzhen. But then once I landed in Shenzhen, then you get the virus.

Sophie Montenot

You know, you want to discover more, you want to do more.

Andrea Ciaffi

Mm.

Sophie Montenot

And then I started to learn English better, you know, so you don't want to stop and go back just yet. You keep, you know, keep doing it. And yeah, I guess also I'm a very curious person. I love, I love people. I love culture.

Sophie Montenot

I, you know, like I don't mind working with different type of personalities. So I just feel that I need this to motivate me always, this melting pot of different culture, different approach. And when you are on large scale project, you end up being on the multicultural teams, which is very interesting to learn how those people have learned engineering in their home country.

Sophie Montenot

You know, it's a very different approach. And I love playing with the best of

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah.

Sophie Montenot

everyone.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, good point. And the part where you mentioned Paris resonates with me a lot because I'm from Rome, in Italy, and I study engineering.

Sophie Montenot

Yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

I realized that Rome didn't. I wanted to work on large projects, and then I was looking at the size of the big buildings we have in Rome, and not many really. Like the largest one has been built 2000

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

years ago is probably the Colosseum.

Sophie Montenot

Yes. Yes, yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

And that's why I moved to Australia. So Paris is a little bit different.

Sophie Montenot

Is. Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

You have a couple of buildings, but still nothing compared with the

Sophie Montenot

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

infrastructure you can see in Singapore or in China. It's very different.

Sophie Montenot

Boo.

Andrea Ciaffi

And speaking about these different countries, did you find, so you worked in Middle East, in Singapore, in China, and in Europe? What are the differences between working in these parts of the world? What do you define?

Sophie Montenot

Yeah, I mean, like from the digital perspective space, right? So I found that Singapore was such a nice environment to work because the government is pushing for those digital mandate into the industry. So they have a plan and they just deploy the plan.

Sophie Montenot

Everyone is aware, no more choice. You know, there is a deadline and this is it. It's in force into every project, et cetera. So I was lucky to embrace that journey, actually. So since 2014, the beam is mandated in Singapore. as part of the building construction authority.

Sophie Montenot

So this is rolled out since. And that has been proven successful because you've got no choice.

Sophie Montenot

Why I found it more difficult is that when you don't have that mandate, so the mandate come from the client, but then it's like, you know, it's It's very hard to come together as a team and everyone is pushing into the same direction, because obviously if it's not mandated across the industry, you will have big players who are more advanced than others.

Sophie Montenot

And because it can also be costly at the beginning. So that's how Singapore did it well. It's like, we are going to mandate. But we can also provide you training. We can fund your company to actually invest in your technology stack. So they will be helping you to achieve what you need at the time of the mandate.

Sophie Montenot

So I have worked in the Middle East at the time was 2000. I don't know how, it was, there were no mandate at the time, apart from the client wanting, or we were also the company saying, okay, by the way, we can propose you to work in digital, but you need to have the entire team right to embrace that.

Sophie Montenot

Not so easy. So I can see different paths. I guess now it has evolved a little bit more. And I would be curious to see this in my next chapter of life.

Andrea Ciaffi

And you touched on Singapore and you worked on a project called the Sport Hubs,

Sophie Montenot

Good. Yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

which was a defining project for the region. Can you share with us what was your role in the digital delivery of this project and what did you learn from that project?

Sophie Montenot

Yeah. So the Sports Up is actually the National Stadium of Singapore, which is not only the stadium, but there is a full complex all around. There's A multi-purpose indoor arena, an aquatic centre, actually a mall. So it was a full complex. around that stadium.

Sophie Montenot

That was the first building, large scale project in Singapore using BIM during construction. So we were in kind of the, because the consultant were using it,

Andrea Ciaffi

Mm.

Sophie Montenot

but I was working for the contractor at the time. and my role was MEP coordinator for all the mechanical and electrical trades. And I was, it was the first time ever that a contractor would take on board the digital strategy.

Sophie Montenot

It was not yet mandated by the government, but we decided, we thought that it has absolutely enormous added value in bringing everyone using BIM to do coordination, but also to do the design. So we took over some of the Concertant BIM model.

Sophie Montenot

When the consultants were not ready, because it was not mandated, we only took schematic level drawings, and then we built again the build model at the time.

Sophie Montenot

When it came to doing MEP, it was First of all, it was 10 years back, so it was quite new also for me to embrace that journey, because you are learning not only the new tools that are on the market, and you need to convince your team this is the correct way to do it, change the habits, moving from AutoGAD to Revit.

Sophie Montenot

At the time, they were not work cloud sharing Revit. It's just like a rabbit server. So it was like old times of doing collaboration, but we managed it. And we delivered the project a few 10, 000 drawings later. And when you are on the construction, obviously you provide drawings for construction.

Sophie Montenot

So they must be coordinated. cash free, so that has a massive value. It was a steep learning curve, but everyone, and we were like delivering on a very short time. I think it was like almost like, it's a design and build project. From the demolition of the previous stadium to the end, it was seven years.

Sophie Montenot

So it was really very fast track. And that entire team, I have to say,

Andrea Ciaffi

Ohh.

Sophie Montenot

is still like a big family. We are connected no matter where people have gone through, you know, the world, different company. Each time that we talk about the sports about LinkedIn, Everyone, thumb up, thumb up. You know, it's a big family because we know we have done a lot of work together.

Sophie Montenot

It was hard at time, but highly rewarding.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, it's pretty nice experience. I feel like that I've experienced something similar in some projects here in Sydney as well. You can really feel,

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

you can really feel how the group stick together when you've been spending so

Sophie Montenot

I.

Andrea Ciaffi

much time under pressure to deliver on a specific deadline.

Sophie Montenot

Yep.

Andrea Ciaffi

Another project you are working on and you work on for a while is the Changi Terminal 5. So it's one of the Sydney.

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

about it, which is one of the most watched infrastructure projects in the world. It's huge. Also, the airport is beautiful. When you think about, when we think about the role of engineering BIM lead in a project like that of that scale, what do you, what do you, what does the role demand that a standard BIM lead role doesn't demand if you compare with a normal project?

Sophie Montenot

I think the complexity of this project from that role perspective is really the coordination, first of all, of all your internal stakeholder. So, the internal stakeholder, actually Tangiti 5 is a very complex project. We were working on the master building, which is the terminal building itself, where we are already in JV.

Sophie Montenot

So you have to align, first of all, all your internal stakeholders as being your JV partner and the architectural consortium, which was under a different JV setup. Then you need to interface with all the different projects that are around the terminal building. So Changi East as a project is massive.

Sophie Montenot

We are the biggest piece of the cake, but around us there is tunnel that are going back to T2. Yeah, two nodes that are crossing the entire length of the T-five terminal, you have... all the ancillary buildings around, you have the master civil buildings around, which is crazy, right?

Sophie Montenot

So, so many different stakeholders, internal, external, understanding the contract issue between each and every one is also an issue. And fortunately, I've learned on the job. I have different roles. As I, when I first joined, actually, I was the mechanical digital lead for the consortium.

Sophie Montenot

And then I had an opportunity to become the digital leader.

Sophie Montenot

Fortunately for me, in a way, I had a smaller we meet at the beginning of the project where I could have the time to absorb and learn all of these different mechanisms in between the different teams that when I was having the opportunity to get onto the BIM lead, then I was in a more comfortable situation to understand the gap in between each and every team.

Sophie Montenot

And then I could deploy the strategy more like peacefully, I would say. It's a lot.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, and one of the...

Sophie Montenot

I've been on the topic for seven years, and so I changed lately, but

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah.

Sophie Montenot

The team is still ongoing, right? There's still a lot of job and it's been delayed a little bit in terms of some of the work packages that will take place later, etc. But yeah, it's a full-time job.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, interesting. I was at when the project started and I

Sophie Montenot

Yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

remember, I mean, I remember with somebody and somebody mentioned the size of the airport compared with the size of the nation, Singapore. And it was, I can't remember what,

Sophie Montenot

Yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

as a fraction of what it is, like maybe a 30th or something. But significant. Like not many other countries have an

Sophie Montenot

It is.

Andrea Ciaffi

airport that is that big compared with the land that they have. And I wonder, like, so this project is very dense and complex, as you mentioned, like MEP installation. And how do you structure the coordination process? Or, in a project like that, across the dead mirror.

Sophie Montenot

Yeah, so for me, you know, because there's obviously 100 engineers who are going to use whatever you want to deploy as a digital strategy. And I always think that the easier you deploy something, the easier it is to almost kind of self-learn a tool the best.

Sophie Montenot

It should be a way of you open your platform and it's like immediately you understand what is the setup of the project. And also because we were three JV partners, all coming with different tool stack, technology stack, different approach, different way of doing things.

Sophie Montenot

The artist was to harmonize our approach to become the JV partner. So we were called SAM for the acronyms of the 1st letter of our companies. And It has to be Sam when it reached the client. So no matter what you are doing under your parent company, You forget about it, you have to follow the project center.

Sophie Montenot

But that was the challenge. But you are asking something else, right? Can you ask, because I was on the MEP, right?

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, how did you? Yeah, yeah, I was the coordination, the coordination of MEP, because it's a very,

Sophie Montenot

Yeah, the.

Andrea Ciaffi

it's very dancing building like that.

Sophie Montenot

And the coordination of the MEP, we took it, well, it was... Kind of overwhelming if you look at the one level, even if you just look at one level, it's like... A few, you know, like 1000 square meters, so we had to agree with what is important to the client to be coordinated.

Sophie Montenot

What is important that you have, you know, like front-end items that will be looked.. . by the architect where the MEP coordination have to be completely hidden. Again, the MEP should never be seen. It's almost something that is seamless in the building, but there are things that needed more care.

Sophie Montenot

And therefore, we tackle those items by priority, by zones, with the client. Everything that was back of house, no problem. You know, technical platforms, technical corridors, this were tackled in parallel by our teams. But we were using our coordination meetings almost you know, like it's not every day with the architect.

Sophie Montenot

You know, so you have a cycle of looking at the design coordination first, then you go into the model, you review the model, you assign issues. Where I found it very challenging is addressing issues is one thing, closing issues or monitoring the closure of those issues, it's really difficult.

Sophie Montenot

So we try to stay within the cloud environment always, distributing all issues everywhere. You cannot avoid markup on the side, etc. So that is also what we face is like, you cannot just have a solution in typing into the BCF issues, you know, field, it doesn't work this way.

Sophie Montenot

The person behind the screen need to understand what the engineers mean. You know, if you want it to be corrected, etc.

Andrea Ciaffi

Mm.

Sophie Montenot

So, I found the volume, in fact, of the information is was the most challenging way of dealing with this project. I mean, our engineers, we had that many engineers, but again, I think that was the challenge is the volume of information to deal with on a daily basis was tremendous.

Sophie Montenot

And I think they are still doing coordination as far as I'm concerned. It's not finished. And that's always the challenge is to ensure that we provide to our client the best coordination. It cannot be clash free because design consultant would only offer up to LOD 300.

Sophie Montenot

Obviously, you cater for construction allowances such as the support and all the fittings, etc. But when we pass it on to the contractor to carry on, there will be another round of coordination. And of course, there are also some equipment that will change at the time of the procurement and so on.

Sophie Montenot

So this will always affect. So when it comes to MEP coordination, honestly, it's always tricky. to deliver something perfect to the client, because you know at some point this will be impacted by the selection of the final equipment on site.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, this is very interesting. Thank you for sharing that, because sometimes people work on smaller projects that are managed, managed and manageable by humans. Projects of these sides, it looks like you have to prioritize, you have to make your own trade-off,

Sophie Montenot

Alright.

Andrea Ciaffi

right? So, and still at the end of the day,

Sophie Montenot

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

you have a beautiful piece of infrastructure, something incredible that will serve generations. It's incredible. It's also interesting to see how the approach changes depending on the size of the project. Another aspect of your work,

Sophie Montenot

Yep. Anything.

Andrea Ciaffi

which is something that we don't see very often, is certain systems. So one is called the baggage handling system and another one is called the automated people mover.

Sophie Montenot

Mhm. Mhm.

Andrea Ciaffi

So these are probably components that you see in airports. You don't see in the normal average building. Can you share with us how did it feel to work about to work on? these type of things and what they are and how they work, how you coordinate them, anything.

Sophie Montenot

Yeah. Yes, so this was under one package under our contract. And they are the, almost like BHS actually is the backbone of your airport, right? So you don't go into an airport without having to deal with baggage. This is my engineering hat, which I really enjoy.

Sophie Montenot

doing as a technical interface. So I had to integrate both design, the BHS and the APM design, and ensuring that our engineering team would provide the necessary, can be structural load, can be electrical load, can be ACMV, etc, etc, that is required for their system to be completely plug and play into the building.

Sophie Montenot

And obviously you have structural constraint, architectural constraint, etc. Pure coordination, coordination job. And my hat of having a mechanical engineering, obviously, was the best fit because you would understand all the different components of their system.

Sophie Montenot

And then having the digital hat actually allowed me to provide them a new perspective of dealing with their problem, providing them a visual when it comes to integrating information, which it seems to not to have done that before.

Sophie Montenot

And I'm like, it's funny that you think that digital only come at the end of a process, where it should be actually used at the very beginning to help you make the best decision. of your design, because these are the supported tools, right?

Sophie Montenot

So at the beginning, they were like, oh, okay, we can see this. And then they were asking more, oh, can we see this? And can we see this section? And what does it mean? So they were actually, the team actually enjoyed and embraced the journey of using digital tools.

Sophie Montenot

to do the interface and the coordination around those two systems. And it was nice to see that they embraced the journey to achieve. And then the result is that the client was really happy, Chengi, to also see this type of result. So there was a successful Experience in your way for me.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, that's great. And that makes me think that often in this podcast we have people that have sometimes contrarian views related to BIM and the fact that sometimes people even think that BIM shouldn't exist. I know this is a digital construction podcast, right?

Sophie Montenot

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

But I think it's also the right space to think about what we do and think about

Sophie Montenot

What?

Andrea Ciaffi

what we're actually doing because it's useful or not. And we do it because now there is this momentum continuing to build digital models. And I was wondering,

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

from your point of view, is there any specific moments that you can think while you were working on T5 in Changi, where having a digital model made a concrete different in making, for example, decisions or could be faster or better decision just because you have the data and not despite you have the data.

Sophie Montenot

Yeah, and I think my best experience again was with using the digital space applied to the VHS and applied to the APM, only because, for example, the VHS model comes with a belt. It's like, you need to imagine this is your Amazon warehouse posting your parcel.

Sophie Montenot

Your parcel comes from point A and has to be shipped to point B. So it's the same with your suitcase. So it's like a spaghetti of belt within your building. And then the model doesn't come with your suitcase on the belt, you know?

Sophie Montenot

So It's a space yet to be secured and not to be penetrated by MEP going through above the belt at 10 centimeters. So we actually had a dynamo script to provide the space above the belt. to ensure the team would see this in their model.

Sophie Montenot

And this is a no-go space for them. You cannot go. There's like a 900 millimeter clearance. This is the max for the belt and the suitcase, and this is it. But you see, these are like very easy example while you can easily implement something that is like low-hanging fruit for the engineering team.

Sophie Montenot

You know, they have that information directly into their model. And for me, this is where you need your engineering hat to translate an engineering problem with a digital solution. So you Don't worry about the low added value of the information. It's there, and you focus on your design where your brain should be working.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, this is very good because it's something relatively simple, but very impactful. And yeah, thanks for sharing this.

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

I would like to talk about your global role at the moment as Subbana Jurong. And of course, you come from mechanical and now you understand how engineers think, right? So Sometimes, you work in a company like Surban Jurong or Arupo Ecom, like these large companies that tend to have a digital strategy.

Andrea Ciaffi

They all have a digital strategy because they have digital leaders that produce digital strategies. And sometimes it's hard to look at that digital strategy and think, how is this useful? project level, right? So people are delivering projects,

Sophie Montenot

Mhm.

Andrea Ciaffi

they're thinking, okay, there is a digital strategy. How do I reconcile the generic digital strategy?

Andrea Ciaffi

I guess the question is, how do you produce a digital strategy that needs to be generic enough that then can be applied across a large number of projects and regions and type of building, potentially, type of infrastructure, but at the same time, you make it useful at project level so people can actually look at it and implement it.

Sophie Montenot

Yes. Yeah, it's a very good question and a very challenging one, especially within SJ Group. So SJ has acquired multiple companies over the last 10 years or so from different backgrounds as well, and they are in different regions. So now we are trying to consolidate a little bit what everyone has been doing at their best within the digital world, and we try to consolidate and harmonize.

Sophie Montenot

And the difficult things when you acquire and merge companies is the legacy. People are used to do something, but they need now to change to become the SJ Group standard. So we are trying to manage this, obviously, because it could create frustration at the user level.

Sophie Montenot

which we don't want to. We need to honor also the legacy because there are things that are very good that we want to ensure can be leveraged in order for the entire group to actually enjoy those wings and create visibility and awareness also is one of our challenge at the moment that we are addressing.

Sophie Montenot

So within this global remit, I am kind of rediscovering what I was doing as a BIM lead for T5 with a complete agnostic hat for the group, making sure that everyone, all my stakeholder, which are my internal customers and brands are served equally across regions and across the brands.

Sophie Montenot

And yeah, it is not easy, but again, I don't think it's impossible.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, definitely. And sometimes it happens that people like

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

you that end up having like these global roles in digital end up having multiple hats, like you mentioned that before. And you also sit on the other working group, which is a very niche space. So I'd like to take this as an

Sophie Montenot

What? Yes.

Andrea Ciaffi

opportunity just to learn more about it, if you can share with us what it is and

Sophie Montenot

Mhm.

Andrea Ciaffi

what type of conversation are happening in that group and that the digital construction industry should be paid attention to.

Sophie Montenot

Yes, so this working group is actually part of a more wider working group. We are all working under a different work stream for IATA. For the next version of the ADRM, which is the effort design manual reference for operators, designers. It's a guide, it's a reference, but it's not a mandate.

Sophie Montenot

But if you were tomorrow to build an airport from scratch, you could use this manual and they give you rule of thumb, how to plan, what to expect, what to foresee, what to forecast, and do also take into account future technology so that your airport can be future-proof.

Sophie Montenot

So I sit under this IATA BHS working group because I wanted to share the experience also on the Chengi T5, also because for having worked with them before Therefore, they are very much European-centric on the example that they provide, because I have attended a few of the course that are related to this manual.

Sophie Montenot

And all the examples they provide are very European-centric. And unlike Here in Asia, we have a large-scale airport. So some of the examples I was telling them are almost not relevant. They never applied. So it doesn't help your end customer because these are unique.

Sophie Montenot

You go to Beijing, you go to, you will go to Singapore. India, so they have like large scale airports. So we needed to provide back this experience. And for me, within this working group is also the opportunity to hear what are the other challenges, you know, like they also have challenges on the BHS technical point of view.

Sophie Montenot

But I was also wanted to bring them like the fresh perspective with the digital aspect of coordinating things, anticipating information when it comes to fire strategy, escape strategy within the building, et cetera, et cetera. So it's been good. Actually, I have a call with them later tonight because we are wrapping up and the next version is to be published next year.

Sophie Montenot

So I've been very happy actually to work with all these different people again, because I'm a very curious person and I like to meet a lot of different backgrounds.

Andrea Ciaffi

Very nice. And on a separate topic, you build your career across a male-dominated environmental industry across multiple countries,

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

and now you're involved in a role that you are the chair of this scholarship committee. for women in aviation Singapore. So when you look at when you look at the situation for women in the construction industry, there are certainly gaps.

Andrea Ciaffi

Do you think that the industry at the moment is looking at the places where the gaps are for real or to just getting distracted and maybe looking at in the wrong place?

Sophie Montenot

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, like, I didn't know that the industry would be like this. So when I first joined, I was like,

Andrea Ciaffi

Mm.

Sophie Montenot

even when I went to my engineering school, I was like, 10 out of 156, 10 women, I was like, what's going on? And that's why when they asked me, actually, I said to the lady who was running the Women in Aviation here in Singapore chapter, when they launched the scholarship committee, I said, oh, I'm happy to help you.

Sophie Montenot

And she's like, you should need the group. I was like, really? And I was like, yeah, okay. Actually, that resonated to me because you need to bring awareness at a very early stage in school, at school, in the university. I would say the university as Probably they already have made their choice, but bringing them the awareness that.

Sophie Montenot

Those jobs, there's so much different type of jobs within the industry, be it in aviation, be it in the construction, that it's completely biased by what is visible. You know, like if you go into the aviation, become a pilot, become an air steward, there's a lot of different job diversity within the life cycle, within the ecosystem of aviation.

Sophie Montenot

And same for construction. And everyone has a role to play, for me anyway. And there is, the most important is to ensure that the men are part of the room. The men can see also that it should not matter. For me, a mathematical scientific result is not biased by a gender.

Sophie Montenot

It's black or white. Is it right or wrong? So everyone has something to play. But what I am trying to built with this scholarship is creating this awareness and a safe place for these ladies to come into the industry in peace. You know, like they don't worry about the environment in which they will work.

Sophie Montenot

Mm. And by having more a woman in the leadership level, trying to lead by example and mentor those young ladies and telling them that it's okay and it's safe. And yes, perhaps there will still be, you know, like some argument around gender. You need to be to stand for yourself and your value.

Sophie Montenot

And that's the way I've always been doing it. So yes, let's push for it.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, definitely, definitely. It's something has to change over time. And I think one of the aspects is that young girls or young women that want to aspire to participate in this industry because they like it,

Sophie Montenot

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

they need to see a role model like you, people that have achieved something meaningful in this space, and that will inspire them and potentially make them feel that, yes, if Sophie has done it, maybe if I work hard, I can also do it.

Andrea Ciaffi

Maybe they will, maybe they want, maybe they maybe they will find a

Sophie Montenot

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

different space, maybe we will do better, who knows, but at least having the opportunity to see people like you. I think can inspire them and give them the energy to pursue this career.

Sophie Montenot

Mm.

Andrea Ciaffi

When you think about yourself at the beginning of your career, and what do you wish somebody told you at the beginning of your career that now you tell women that you mentor?

Sophie Montenot

Mm. I would say, trust yourself, follow your dreams, follow your passion. Don't listen to the bias comments. You know, that's probably what I'm saying to the version. It's also very cultural here in Asia, I realize. that there is a strong push from the family.

Sophie Montenot

You should become this, you should become that, this industry is safer for you. But is it safer? But then at the end, you will not be happy, you know, because it's not what you wanted to do. So stand for yourself.

Andrea Ciaffi

Mm.

Sophie Montenot

That will probably be my advice. Follow your dream, follow your passion, and You know, like, don't listen to others.

Andrea Ciaffi

Thank you very much, Sophie. We are at the end of the episode. This was a great, great episode of very inspiring, and I hope many people will watch it and find the inspiration I found speaking with you. If people want to reach out to you or follow your work, where is the best place to find you?

Sophie Montenot

LinkedIn, I think this is the easiest you can find me and you can reach out. I'm not on premium account or whatsoever, so it's easy to send me a message, so please do.

Andrea Ciaffi

Sophie, thanks us for sharing your journey with us across all the continent and these siblings. Thank you for joining us on the Digital Conservation Podcast.

Sophie Montenot

Thanks for having me, Andrea.