I feel strongly that we need to be doing more to get young people excited about joining the construction industry. And to do that successfully, it’s so important to tap into them at a young age. When they’re 14, they’re already choosing their GCSE subjects and they may already be conditioned to think that they’re better at some things than others. 

We also need to let them know about the breadth of roles that are out there in construction and further afield. I’m really excited to be part of the Ladies Bridge schools project, which celebrates the role of women in the construction of Waterloo Bridge in London. We’re taking Year 8 students to see the bridge, and we give them a bit of an introduction to the construction industry – I’m part of a panel that is going to speak about our experience. There’s an architect, an engineer, a project manager, a cost consultant – a real variety – and we give a brief description of what we do and how we got into it, and let the kids know that there’s more out there than engineers and architects and doctors. There’s lots of things in the construction industry that they could be doing.

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