Pulse supporting International Women's Day
International Women's Day - a blog from one of Pulse's Quantity Surveyors, Carrie Young
This is the 110th year the world has celebrated International Women’s Day, a day dedicated to recognising the achievements of the amazing women we work with and know today and honour those who led the path before us.
Working as a Quantity Surveyor I am regularly in the gender minority at work and although the construction sector is progressing in many aspects, it is still a very male dominated industry. With less than 15% of the industry consisting of women, of which 87% are in office-based roles, there is a significant lack of women within construction. There are many possible reasons as to explain this gap however firstly I think it is more important to celebrate the women already in the industry and their achievements thus far.
I work with a team of 5 other incredible ladies at Pulse Consult, who inspire me to push myself and succeed every single day.
Firstly, we have Fiona Bessford who has been working in construction for 20 years and joined Pulse as an Associate Director. Fiona is passionate about regeneration and is inspired by the opportunity of her projects having positive impact and creating opportunities for local communities. Outside of Pulse, she is the Vice Chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion group for the CIOB where people are working together to instil positive change in the industry. She is a great role model within Pulse who actively supports the younger generation through their career and to be the most successful they can be. She is incredibly motivating to all and particularly supportive to those sitting their APC.
Katy Hicks is one of our consultants specialising in Quantity Surveying. Katy joined the construction industry over 5 years ago and has worked on some incredible projects, including schemes based in Slovakia and Belgium. Starting her career by successfully completing a degree part-time at Nottingham Trent University, Katy has always had an interest in both people and buildings. Since then, her career has gone from strength to strength and a significant part of this is due to the number of powerful women in high positions who have acted as role models and influenced her journey so far. Katy has a wealth of knowledge of technology and is striving to change the industry every day, she is an inspiration to work with and is always available to support you regardless of her own workload.
Next, we have Charlie Allen who is an experienced Finance Manager and has a vital role in assuring the business operates smoothly. She loves to hear about our projects and enjoys the fact we assist clients in realising their vision and helping them to achieve it. Charlie is constantly encouraging everyone to push themselves further and challenging people on why they don’t believe in themselves, Charlie is everyone’s biggest supporter.
Courtney Bennett is the newest member to join our team as an Administrative Assistant and has joined from a health and safety background. Courtney already has an IPAF License and can operate 3a mobile vertical and 3b mobile booms, she will be supporting all areas of the business and is already enthusiastic about the team and how we can improve and grow.
And finally, Emma Atkins has been a part of the construction industry for 18 years she is a remarkable role model to all. Not only is Emma Pulse’s Business Development and Marketing Manager, she is involved in several other aspects of the industry including being a regional director of fbe, a board member for ProCon and a Trustee of Nottingham’s famous Hot Property charity to name a few. Emma is always looking for new ways to progress Pulse, support everyone on their journey and is a true inspiration to our team.
Personally, I joined the industry by accident when a colleague could not attend a meeting, she was a stakeholder for one of Pulse projects and I had to stand in for her at a site progress meeting. At the time I was in a role that was not part of the construction industry and through being involved in the project and working closely with Pulse, I was shown the opportunities construction held. This inspired me to join Pulse and study part-time to achieve my MSc in Quantity Surveying. Since then, I have progressed and was even recognised as a regional fbe Rising Star. Throughout my time at Pulse, the team have been supportive and encouraged me every step of the way.
In conclusion I would like to say how proud I am to work with such amazing women every day and I would like to #choosetochallenge everyone to appreciate the women they work with and remember to regularly tell everyone not just women how appreciated they are. As an industry we are progressing and growing but we need to appreciate who we currently have working with us.
Happy international women’s day!