This Women in Construction Week, we are proud to celebrate the incredible impact of our female colleagues, and reaffirm our commitment to breaking down barriers in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
This year’s theme is Level Up, Build Strong, emphasising the growth, resilience and excellence of women across the construction industry. Women now make up 15% of the construction workforce, with approximately 340,000 women employed in the sector and one in ten construction apprentices being female. While this change is positive, we still have work to do.
At the Group, we champion opportunities for women, striving towards a more equal tomorrow. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy actively challenges industry norms to ensure women can thrive, and we deliver a range of unique initiatives to encourage women to consider a career in construction.
Championing Opportunities:
While the UK gender pay gap currently stands at 6.9% in favour of men, we continue to buck the national trend, with our median gender pay gap standing at -5.32% in favour of women. We believe that representation matters at every level, a belief clearly reflected at the highest levels of our leadership, with our Executive Management Team currently comprising 42.86% women.
This strong leadership team includes Anita Spencer, Group Chief Operating Officer, who was proudly recognised as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Construction in 2023, and continues to champion opportunities for women across our sector.
We also celebrate excellence, as seen at our recent Apprenticeship Awards, where we proudly recognised the outstanding achievements of our female colleagues, highlighting the real-world success of our inclusive training pathways.
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Offering a Pathway into Construction:
The construction sector faces an urgent skills shortage, with an estimated 250,000 additional workers needed by 2027, and we believe women represent a key opportunity to drive the industry forward. That’s why we’ve developed a range of initiatives to encourage women to consider a career in construction, including our widely successful Pathway into Construction programme.
In partnership with Elevate Education Business Partnership, we’ve welcomed seven young women for a week-long work experience placement, giving them exclusive insight into a career in trades and other housing services.
This week, they’ll join partners to discover the opportunities available to them, hear from guest speakers from Sovini Property Services who will share their personal journeys into construction, and shadow colleagues from Sovini Trade Supplies, Sovini Property Services and One Vision Housing to gain an understanding of the day-to-day life in the construction sector.
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Kerry Beirne, Chief People and Communications Officer, said:
“We strongly believe in equal opportunities for all and strive to create a diverse and inclusive workplace where all colleagues can thrive. The Group has proudly led the way on gender pay for many years, and we are delighted to offer opportunities to women considering a career in construction.”
Anita Spencer, Group Chief Operating Officer, said:
“Women in Construction Week is an opportunity to celebrate and promote the role of women in the construction industry, something I am passionate about championing.
We have a wide range of inspiring female colleagues across the Group who represent the strength and resilience of women in construction, and we look forward to continuing to provide opportunities for them to grow.”
By providing mentorship, championing inclusion and highlighting the fantastic female leaders across our Group, we’re dismantling the barriers to a career in construction, one brick at a time. To find out more about a career at the Group, visit our careers page.