WiC project takes root in Wales and Birmingham

A six-year-old project originally launched to boost the number of women working on the Olympic Park has now expanded from London to Birmingham, and plans to start operations in Cardiff.

Women into Construction started its work in Birmingham in July and held its first recruitment event at the end of August, working with Job Centre Plus and local colleges and universities. It is targeting 20 work placements and 20 job contracts for female candidates by the end of the first year.

WiC project manager Kath Moore told CM that the key to expansion was working closely with a core group of contractors, with Lovell, Carillion, Morgan Sindall and Thomas Vale all backing the project in Birmingham. “We’ve built on the contactors we already had relationships with and expanded from there,” she said.

After helping women into trade and professional roles on the Olympic Park, WiC has worked on major London schemes such as Crossrail and the Elephant & Castle regeneration in 2011-14.

At the Olympic Park WiC trained 450 women, placing 87 into unpaid work placements that allow employers a “free trial” and 255 in employment. 

In 2011-14 it placed 135 women into work placements and 195 into employment. Of the jobs secured, 48% were in manual trades and 52% were in professional roles. 

The organisation was originally funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority, with the CITB later funding the project via Lend Lease’s charitable arm BeOnsite, which also provided office accommodation.

But Women into Construction has now reformed as a Community Interest Company, independent of Lend Lease. It will continue to receive CITB funding for the next three years, but is now seeking support from other sources, such as a National Lottery funding application.

Moore said: “At a recent House of Commons reception hosted by Meg Munn MP, she was saying that where there are skills shortages [in the economy], it’s often in areas where women aren’t well-represented. Everyone is talking about the skills shortages in construction, so recruiting women or supporting women into jobs should be a no-brainer.”

Dr Tessa Wright, of the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity at Queen Mary University, London, has written a report on the project that concludes it has been successful because it works closely with both women and contractors – the supply and demand side.

Employers appreciated the level of preparation women candidates were given before they walked on to site, while women appreciate the “network” WiC provides after placement.

“If they experience the typical issues women can come across, there’s someone they can go to who can say ‘we’ve dealt with this before’. It gives the women more confidence in the early stage,” Wright said. 

And employers interviewed for Wright’s report felt that having more women visible in construction roles would help to improve the public image of the workforce.

In the report, a painting and decorating contracts manager was quoted as saying: “You’re walking on the street, you’ve got a pair of overalls on, people still give you dirty looks and stuff like that because they think you’re just a builder or whatever. And I think bringing girls into the industry, I’m hoping that it’s gonna change people’s minds. People are gonna start treating builders like human beings.”

Another manager interviewed felt that having more women on site had helped site-wide compliance with health and safety regulations, saying that the company’s monthly H&S monitoring statistics had improved when women joined the team.

Dr Tessa Wright describes her research project here