Three construction management professionals have been awarded 2021 Maidstone Hub’s Outstanding Student awards.
All three women attended London South East Colleges and passed with distinction, while juggling work and complex life issues.
Becki Sinclair from Claritas Group completed her BTEC HNC Construction Management from Bromley College; while Faith Rukiat Abudu and Rajinder Basra, an associate director – project controls at Mace, studied for their HNDs in Construction Management at Bexley College.
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Basra chose to study to advance her career. “My current role is very process and controls based. I felt that I would like to have the technical ability to understand what takes place on the ground,” she says.
She hopes to move into project management and also to continue property development, an interest she has cultivated outside work and which her HNC helped with.
As a role model in D&I, she thinks that the industry is listening, however the turnaround to implement meaningful change is taking too long. “I truly believe it comes from the top down and I continue to look forward to help drive these changes within the industry,” she says.
Abudu said on LinkedIn on news of her award: “It goes to show my hard work, perseverance and determination paid off and didn’t go unnoticed. A friend of mine said to me: ‘A black woman in construction? It’s going to be really difficult; it’s hard enough being a woman in construction’. My answer now: bring on the challenge, I have proved to you with hard work, anything is possible. (Black woman or not).”
She told Construction Manager that she loves being part of the housing shortage solution and wants to work her way to project manager.
Sinclair, who has her sights set on becoming MCIOB and design manager, says her study helped her understand the construction process more widely than her design role allows.
She is also keen to share her positive experiences of working in construction. “I have always felt valued and treated fairly both as a female, and a working mother… I think its hugely important that women and other minorities within the industry promote their positive experiences in construction to younger people so it’s seen as an inclusive industry when deciding on career choices.”
