Commitment to equality and sustainability is a key part of our work to level up the sector by attracting more women into a wide range of roles.
To mark Women in Construction Week, we are encouraging women to explore the diverse career pathways available across the housing sector.
Liane Manley, our Director of Property Services, who is also a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers shares her experience during the week.
She said: “Over the past five years, LiveWest have been focussing on growing our talent and encouraging more female trade colleagues to change their career and join our apprenticeship programme.
“We always encourage diversity and inclusion in our recruitment, and we now have many qualified female trade colleagues and professional services.
“We achieved our first target of five percent female trade colleagues, and I would like to see this increase further, hopefully double or get to even fifty percent, I hope I'm still here to see this! We actively share our best practice women in trade days with other housing associations, after all we want to be part of the sector journey.”
LiveWest has a strong female senior leadership who support the wider team across all disciplines, whether that be development, asset and investment and property services.
“I’ve worked in the construction industry for over 30 years and love the opportunities it brings,” Liane added.
“As a civil engineer in the 90s, it was very rare to see women engineers, but we can all help towards changing the story of the construction sector, and I’m proud that we have such an inclusive and diverse team.”
Glynnis Poole, our Director of Investment and Sustainability also shares her reflections during Women in Construction week.
Glynnis said: “Through my journey, from technical development to asset management, I want to show that these roles are genuinely open to women, and that we absolutely belong in these spaces.
“We focus on building an environment where women have every opportunity to succeed and step into the roles they want to pursue. It’s equally important to acknowledge the contributions that men and women make so that everyone succeeds.
“It’s about evolving how we work so more women feel able to join the sector. Here at LiveWest, we have women in senior roles who work part time, challenging the perception that such opportunities aren’t possible.
A core part of our sustainability strategy is inclusivity and adapting our working practices to support this.
Glynnis added: “Sustainability is embedded in everything we do. With the construction industry facing a significant skills shortage, women represent a key opportunity to help close the gap but there is a career path here for everyone.”