Tuesday 17 September 2024 | Royal Lancaster London
Celebrating the role models and organisations empowering women in construction and engineering
The deserving winners of the Inspiring Women in Construction & Engineering Awards 2024 were announced on Tuesday 17 September, during a spectacular gala evening at The Royal Lancaster London. It has been a big year for entries with a diverse and inspiring submissions, showcasing initiatives and achievements across the industry. The Awards brought together more than 600 across the civil, construction and geotechnical sectors for an evening of celebration, recognition and networking.
Colin Marrs, editor of Construction News said : "The IWCE Awards go from strength-to-strength, demonstrating the momentum in the movement for greater equality of opportunity within the construction and engineering sectors.
"We had a staggering number of entries this year. Each and every one is another important chip away at the idea that construction is a man’s job. By coming together with male allies at our conference and awards ceremony, we are proud to provide a hub of support and exchange.”
“Ground Engineering is excited to be part of the Inspiring Women in Construction & Engineering Awards for the very first time. This evening, we’ve joined forces with Construction News and New Civil Engineer to honour the exceptional women and allies working to transform our industries.
“Well done to all the shortlisted individuals and organisations – and a huge congratulations to tonight’s winners! I’m confident that each of you will continue to shape the future of civils, ground engineering and construction.
“Here's to celebrating not just your achievements, but the momentum you're helping to build in making this industry a more diverse and welcoming place for everyone." Said Ground Engineering editor Nia Kajastie .
New Civil Engineer editor Gavin Pearson commented: “New Civil Engineer has spent decades reporting on both the skills shortage in engineering and the challenges women have faced in building great careers in it. So we are thrilled to continue our involvement with the Inspiring Women in Construction and Engineering programme.
"Our industry’s lack of gender equality has held us back for too long, so there is something inspiring about an event that can bring together and celebrate the successes across industry and share the aspiration to go further and do more.
"We hope that by telling the stories that deserve to be told, not only do we get to celebrate inspiring women across our industry, but perhaps in doing so, we can inspire more women to feel that construction will be a great career for them.”
Event Partners
Awards
This year's Inspiring Women in Construction and Engineering Awards return to recognise the women, teams and organisations making outstanding contributions to gender diversity within their industry.
The categories and criteria for the awards aim to recognise the outstanding achievements of individuals and companies striving to make the construction industry and their organisations great places to work for women. The categories are designed to showcase both individual and organisation wide initiatives.
This year's awards are bigger than ever with five new categories to celebrate the exceptional women and teams within our industry.
Conference
The Inspiring Women in Construction and Engineering conference brings together women and allies from the civils, construction and geotechnical sectors for a half day conference. The event will showcase the inspiring role models and demonstrate how organisations are striving to improve diversity and empower women in the sector.
Workshop
Shortlisted entrants for the awards will be invited to a learning and development workshop, offering opportunities for networking and discussing challenges and career development.
Speakers from last year's workshop included:
- Carol Massay, head of construction, Access UK
- Jennifer Allen, head of talent, Balfour Beatty
- Andy Pritchard, head of supply chain, Willmott Dixon
- Eleanor Greatholder, UK director: commercial and legal, Buro Happold
- Katy Hall, owner and director, SC4 Carpenters
This workshop is invitation only for the awards shortlist. Taking place on 2 July at JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London.
Webinar
This year's event programme will commence with the "Constructing equality – Tackling and addressing unconscious bias " webinar, that took place on Friday 8 March. The webinar will brought together a panel of experts that discussed the tackling implicit bias, how we can all identify our biases, and EDI policy to improve these challenges within our workplaces.
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023
This is what our editors have to say
I am delighted that Inspiring Women in Construction and Engineering is back in 2024, bigger and better than ever. Last year’s event was a real eye-opener for me. It was incredible to witness the breadth and depth of discussion about issues impacting on women working in the built environment. IWCE is a crucial forum to showcase what the industry is doing well – as well as where it still needs to go further to achieve equality of opportunity for women. The event is a fantastic forum for women to show solidarity and share their experiences – but it is also crucial that men within the industry get involved in the event and contribute to debate in order to provide allyship to their female colleagues.
I’m excited to announce that Ground Engineering will be joining NCE and CN for Inspiring Women in Construction and Engineering in 2024. Ground engineering as a sector has already been represented at the conference and awards, but we’ve now made it official. GE is already involved in the BBC’s 50:50 Equality Project, focused on gender equality and diversity in media content, and is launching its Top 20 Women in Ground Engineering initiative in 2024, so being part of IWCE seems like a natural next step. I look forward to having discussions on how ground engineering – and the wider civil engineering and construction industry – can be made more equitable, inclusive and diverse. This is crucial for making ground engineering a more attractive career choice and for future-proofing the skills pipeline to meet the needs of the sector.
Genuine inclusion is both a moral cause and vital to securing the lasting success of our industry and our professions. As the new editor for New Civil Engineer, I am excited to take part in Inspiring Women in Construction and Engineering for the first time in 2024. Along with Construction News and Ground Engineering, New Civil Engineer is dedicated to sharing the detail and solutions across all kinds of challenges in industry, so we are proud to support an event that drills down into the real experiences, opportunities and challenges facing women and wider diversity. Hearing the practical action and real successes of the individuals and companies leading the way – be it through their recruitment, training and promotion, or creating an environment in which women can thrive – is more than uplifting. It is integral to achieving further improvements and making our industry one that women find attractive to join.