Celebrating Our Women In Construction

In honour of Women in Construction Week, we are shining a spotlight on the incredible roles and opportunities available to women at City & Country.

We are dedicated to tackling the gender imbalance and empowering the next generation of female construction workers to gain valuable experience, and flourish as they develop their careers with us in the construction industry, resulting in a more diverse workforce.

According to Go Construct, women currently represent 14% of those working in the UK construction sector, and just 4% of Site Managers in the UK. We are proud to offer a variety of roles and training opportunities to women at all stages of their careers. Whether it is working in our land, technical or customer-facing teams to on-site, building homes for our customers as a skilled site manager, engineer or labourer.

Kat Gawenda, who moved to the UK from Poland two and a half years ago in the hope of furthering her career in construction, has been promoted from Trainee to Assistant Site Manager at The 1840, St George’s Gardens in South West London.

She says: “I’m incredibly proud of myself for making the move to the UK, as it marked a turning point for my career and allowed me to pursue my dream job in an industry I love and one that is so close to home as my dad has worked in construction all my life.”

Hoping to move up the ranks to a Project Manager role, she added: “I am keen to master all aspects of being on site and looking forward to progressing my career in such a welcoming work environment. I would encourage more women to consider a career in construction with City & Country, where your skills are nurtured, and women are encouraged to succeed.”

Lisa Coelho, also an Assistant Site Manager, based at our Sanderling Reach development in West Mersea adds: “Attitudes have changed massively from when I first started in Construction. I would really encourage any women wanting to join the sector to not be put off by any pre-conceived notions – we have a lot to offer particularly in on-site roles, but there are lots of office-based options too. I have a very supportive team around me at City & Country who value my perspective and previous experience, it was a really welcoming environment to join. There’s definitely a sense of everyone wanting to get the best results, and a great culture from the top-down. I’m grateful to be around people who encourage you to learn and take on new challenges.”

Illustrating the diverse roles available within our City & Country team, Faye Barson works at our St Osyth Priory development as Estate and Farm Manager.

“I joined City & Country nearly three years ago to look after the rare breeds of livestock on the historic estate at St Osyth Priory. It was a daunting challenge for me as I was relocating from Yorkshire to start somewhere completely new and join a mostly male team. However, everyone was extremely welcoming, and I was treated no differently. It’s fantastic to be part of the City & Country team alongside so many other talented women – there are so many roles for women out there it has really helped broaden my horizons.”

“I’ve had lots of career highlights in the past couple of years, including the unique experience of helping to plant 4,500 trees in the estate’s woodland. It’s been incredibly special to be part of creating a legacy that will last for future generations.”

Claire Forrest is the Customer Care Manager at The Playfair at Donaldson’s and recently celebrated her 5th anniversary with City & Country. “Working in my role for five years now, I’ve been lucky to witness the changing attitudes towards women in construction and recognise City & Country’s dedication to encouraging women. I have a lot of female friends in the industry who have switched from office related jobs to those traditionally dominated by men, and it’s fantastic to see more diversity.”

Leeann Tanner works as Construction and Health and Safety Coordinator, starting in the housebuilding industry at just 21 years old. Now 25 years into her career, she is still loving every second of it. She explains: “I’m so proud that I made the jump to Health & Safety – I would encourage other women to not let any pre-conceived notions stop you from doing any job. In my role every day is different – one day I could be talking to a film company about location scouting, and the next I’m in jeans and muddy boots on site conducting a health & safety audit. I’ve been here eight years now and I still absolutely love what I do!”

We’re very proud to have a number of skilled women working at our developments across England and offer all employees access to a training fund to ensure they have the opportunity to upskill.

Take a look at our current vacancies and develop your career within the construction industry with City & Country.