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.

Repost: FKG sets a new precedent with on-site childcare centre

by Laura Hunt
13th Jul 2013 6:00 AM



ONE of Toowoomba's largest construction companies is hoping an on-site childcare centre will attract more families and women to join its workforce.

FK Gardner & Sons Group recently opened its first on-site early learning centre, Building Blocks, at its Toowoomba office.

The service costs about 50 per cent less than the national average, with space for 18 children.

Contracts administrator Alex Williams' seven-month-old son Harrison was one of the first to be taken in.

"It's great and so convenient. You know everybody's parents and you can go down at lunchtime and visit them," Mrs Williams said.

"When I was on maternity leave and looking at how expensive the options were, I was thinking 'how am I going to go back?'

"It's really positive financially and has provided a good incentive to return to the workforce."

FKG managing director Nick Gardner said the decision followed a successful parental scheme introduced in 2012 that offered incentives for parents to return to the workplace after starting a family.

"It worked really well and got the thought process started on the childcare centre," he said.

"It's a bit left field for a construction company to be setting up a childcare centre but we're a family-based company and our values are to provide a family atmosphere. From our perspective, attracting and retaining good staff is difficult so it's a good feather in the cap to offer current employees but also future employees.

"We're certainly trying to set ourselves apart from others in the industry."

View the original article at http://www.ipswichadvertiser.com.au.