The participation of women in the building industry has been given a fillip this week.

The success of the Women into Construction project - which has created training and employment opportunities for women to work on the Olympic Park construction site - has been celebrated at a breakfast event for industry and partners in industry.

Women are under-represented in the construction industry and this unique project has supported 111 women into a range of working roles on the London Olympic Park.

It was recently recognised with a Women into Science, Construction and Engineering (WISE) Partnership Award presented by HRH the Princess Royal.

This unique project is funded by the London Development Agency (LDA) and ConstructionSkills and offers targeted support, training and encouragement to women.

There are currently over 270 women working on the Olympic Park construction site, constituting 6% of the workforce, compared to the national average of 2%.


Alongside the Deputy Mayor of London Richard Barnes and the Chief Executive of ConstructionSkills Mark Farrar, the Women into Construction conference featured contractors and the leading figures behind the project from the Olympic Delivery Authority and their delivery partner.

The project itself was set up in March 2008 aiming to place 50 women per year into manual trades on the Olympic Park site.

Catherine Neary from Enfield, a first year plumbing apprentice on the Olympic site said: "So far the experience has been a good one but I'm still learning. I know now that I want to be a plumber and need my qualification to get on.

"I know that I am training for a very good job and this experience on site is great for my CV," she said.

Geoff Newton, Director of Olympic Opportunity at the LDA, said: "This project has been successful in recruiting women onto the Olympic Park site and recruiting a large proportion of the women from BAME groups.

"We hope it has provided a model capable of replication on other major construction sites and as such offers another legacy of the London 2012 Games."

The Olympic Delivery Authority Chairman John Armitt said: "The Women into Construction project is an important part of our commitment to leave a jobs and skills legacy for east London and the wider construction industry.

"We are working closely with our contractors to meet the tough targets we have set that aim to make the Olympic Park a beacon of best practice on employment and training.

"The WISE award recognises this partnership and the hard work of our team and contractors in opening up employment opportunities to women," he said.

"The Women into Construction event was an opportunity for construction directors from the Olympic Park and across the country to discuss how the industry can build on the lessons learned on the Olympic Park to ensure that more women can access construction careers."

(BMcC/KMcA)