Women in the Built Environment 2018 marks another hugely successful event

This November, we welcomed 30 female delegates and over 50 female students to the annual Women in the Built Environment (WiBE) event.

Jo Williams, National Chair of Women in Property (WiP) delivering her presentation at the event

The event was organised and coordinated by the NTU Employability Team for female students across the subject areas of Property, Construction, Architecture and Civil Engineering, and opened by senior lecturer Victoria Goodliffe. Invaluable industry advice was given by 31 professional female delegates, many of them NTU alumni, working in a range of positions within the sector, typically dominated by male employees.

Over 50 female students from the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment were given an inspiring set of short presentations by female industry professionals and NTU alumni at various stages in their careers at national companies.

This all set the scene for a series of informal 15 minute break-out sessions, each of which was led by a number of the attending industry representatives. They gave insights and pointers on varying career options, challenges and further progression. The discussions spanned career motivations and progression, gender and equality in the sector, and recruitment.

Women in the Built Environment Discussions

Students and employers networking at the discussion sessions

Sonya Hurt, Service Manager for Safer Highways at Via East Midlands, which manages the highways network on behalf of the Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “We were very pleased to be invited to attend the annual Women in the Built Environment event at Nottingham Trent University. Our Head of Performance and Programme Management, Kate Butler and myself were thrilled to have the opportunity to discuss our career journeys and offer guidance as professionals in our industry. It was great to engage with students and we really hope we helped to inspire women to build a career in the construction and engineering sector.”

Zoey Nutt, Architectural Technologist at Whittam Cox also told us: "It was our absolute pleasure to be part of such a wonderful event aimed at Inspiring the next generation of women in construction. To be able to provide advice and guidance to young women starting out their careers is a privilege. We hope that our input has given the women that we met with the confidence to progress with their courses knowing their future within the industry will be an enjoyable one regardless of which avenue they take."

The networking and follow up opportunities for both students and employers were numerous, with several of the companies feeding back how useful the event had been, and registering their commitment to being part of similar future events.