‘I couldn’t keep encouraging women into an industry that wasn’t set up for them’

For Renée Preston, the UK construction industry’s long-discussed skills shortage is being misdiagnosed. “We don’t have a skills shortage,” she says. “We are overlooking 52% of the population.”

Preston, director at Gallaway Construction and founder of Construction for Women, has spent years working directly with young people. It was through this outreach that she began to see a consistent pattern – particularly among girls. “They’re simply not seeing the built environment as an option,” she explains. “Not because they’re not capable, but because no one is showing them.”

Despite ongoing efforts to promote STEM careers, Preston believes the messaging is too disconnected from real-world roles.

“We talk about STEM, but we’re not connecting it,” she says. “A girl who enjoys maths isn’t being told she could be a quantity surveyor. Someone creative isn’t shown architecture or design. A natural problem solver isn’t being directed towards engineering or planning.”

At the same time, she argues, there has been a broader shift away from showcasing hands-on careers.

“We’ve moved away from showing what working with your hands actually looks like – what being on the tools feels like, the pride that comes from building something real. We’re losing people before they even get a chance to choose.”

A turning point came during a taster day delivered to 90 schoolgirls in Croydon. “I’ve delivered dozens of sessions, but this one felt different,” Preston recalls. “The girls were questioning it: ’Why us?’ ‘Why do you want to help us?’ There was disbelief that anyone would offer them this opportunity.”

When the reality sank in, the atmosphere shifted. “The room filled with questions – about pay, training, different roles. Some loved plastering, others interior design, others the drone surveying. The energy completely changed.”

The experience left a lasting impression. “I drove home in tears,” she says. “That’s when I realised both the impact we could have – and the responsibility that comes with it.”

That moment led to the expansion of Construction for Women, which now operates across 12 cities, supporting women into roles across the built environment – from site-based trades to professional careers such as quantity surveying, engineering and architecture.

The initiative has grown rapidly. Last year, Preston brought 156 women to UKREiiF, ensuring each left with a mentor. This year, that figure has doubled to more than 300. “There’s clearly an appetite for change,” she says.

Initially, Preston believed that providing access, guidance and mentoring would be enough to shift the dial. But feedback from participants told a different story. “It wasn’t a skills problem, it wasn’t a confidence problem,” she says. “It was a culture problem.”

Through mentoring and personal experience, Preston began to hear – and witness – recurring issues. “Women feeling isolated. Being spoken down to. Dealing with behaviour that simply shouldn’t exist,” she says. “I’ve had women tell me they’ve cried in toilets on site.”

Crucially, these were not people struggling to enter the industry – they were already in it. “That’s the bit that matters,” Preston stresses. “We’re not losing people because they don’t want to be here. We’re losing them because the environment isn’t ready for them when they arrive.”

The realisation forced a difficult shift in Preston’s approach. “I couldn’t, in good faith, keep encouraging women into an industry that wasn’t set up for them,” she says. “Everything we were building – taster days, mentoring, pathways – risked becoming a Trojan Horse.”

The solution, she decided, had to go beyond access and into the day-to-day reality of working on site. That led to the creation of the National Site Standard, a framework designed to set clear, practical expectations across the industry.

Unlike many initiatives, Preston is clear that this is not about high-level commitments. “This isn’t theory,” she says. “It’s about what actually happens on site, every day.”

The standard focuses on fundamentals: clear behavioural expectations from induction onwards; welfare facilities that function properly; PPE that fits; trusted reporting routes; and leadership accountability. “It’s simple,” she adds. “But it changes everything. These are the things that determine whether someone stays or leaves.”

Preston launched the National Site Standard in Parliament in January, drawing on both her own experience and the lived experiences of the women she has supported.

Since then, she says, the response has been encouraging. “Tier 1 contractors are engaging. Developers and homebuilders are looking at how it scales. Local authorities are exploring how it fits into procurement. Education providers are recognising its role in retention.” 

Organisations that are already engaged include NHS Property Services, Platform Housing Group, Keepmoat Homes, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Leicester City Council, among others. Tier 1 contractors showing keen interest include Wates Group.

There is also recognition at site level. “People on site see it and immediately understand it, because it reflects what ‘good’ should look like.”

Women currently make up around 15% of the construction workforce – and far less on site – at a time when the industry faces an ageing workforce and rising demand. For Preston, the conclusion is clear. “This is not a pipeline issue,” she says. “It’s a retention issue – and it’s one we can fix.”

The business case, she argues, is just as strong as the moral one. “Every time someone leaves because of the environment, it impacts programme, cost and team performance. If we get this right, everything improves – people stay longer, teams are stronger, projects run better.”

Preston is clear that the next step for the industry is implementation. The National Site Standard, she adds, is ready to be adopted, embedded and audited across projects. Because, ultimately, the industry’s future depends on more than attracting talent. “It won’t be built by who we bring in,” she says. “It will be built by who we keep.”

Find out more about the National Site Standard here