An all-woman building team? Does this mean handbags at dawn or lots of group hugs?

Neither, according to Anna Cocks of consultancy Calfordseaden, who is project manager on this Bluestone affordable housing scheme in Reading. She says women aren’t such a novelty in construction any more.

“I’m working on another site where the rest of the team is men, and there’s no difference in the working relationships at all,” she says. “I don’t get any reaction [from the men].” However, she has not come across a female site manager before.