Repost: First step towards attracting more women into construction

Published for Sanctuary Housing Association
Wednesday, January, 15, 2014

Keen to play its part in attracting more females to work in the construction industry, Sanctuary Group invited its contractors to a meeting at it offices in London to learn more about the Women into Construction Project.

The Women into Construction Project is a CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) Construction Skills scheme run by the organisation Be Onsite following a successful initiative by the Olympic Delivery Authority at Olympic Park in Stratford. The project aims to create a more balanced work force by removing barriers that might deter women from entering the construction industry.

Committed to attracting more women to work at its developments across London, Sanctuary Group hosted a meeting with Women Into Construction at its offices in Wood Green, where the Group’s development team and some of its contractors (including Ardmore Construction, Bennett Construction Ltd & Bugler Development) learnt more about the initiative.

They heard about the range of options available to women through the scheme, such as work placements on site, apprenticeships, access to further training and careers advice, and the funding available for childcare costs etc to help facilitate women taking up these opportunities.

Janet Mussington, Sanctuary’s head of development for London, said: “There are relatively few women working in the construction industry and Sanctuary is keen to play a part in redressing this imbalance. The presentation from the Women into Construction team was very informative and we are delighted that three of our contractors have already given a commitment to offering work experience placements through the Project.”

She confirmed that Sanctuary Group has female apprentices working in its maintenance team (Sanctuary Maintenance) and via some of its contractors – such as 20-year old Chantelle Wrightson who is doing a carpentry and joinery apprenticeship with Keepmoat at Sanctuary’s extra care development in the north-east.

She added: “We are determined to see many more female apprentices taken on by Sanctuary and our contractors, and more training and employment opportunities created with women in mind to ensure more females can progress a career in the construction industry in the future.”

Visit www.beonsite.org.uk/women-construction-project for more information on the Women into Construction Project.

Visit http://www.24dash.com/ to view the original article.