With a background as a Chartered Civil Engineer, Juliette (@Juliette_Gecas) has taken full advantage of the flexibility and variety of roles that the industry has to offer. Currently working as a Customer Interface Manager for a major engineering solution provider, she is an advocate for collaboration and diversity in the ever-changing workplace. This is the 7th in our series of posts by women working in the construction industry about the issues they face. Please see the in

Zoe Chapman is employed as a Senior Consultant working for a multi-disciplinary consultancy in London. She has over 20 years’ experience in the construction business in different areas which has provided her with a wealth of experience and many opportunities. This is the sixth in our series of posts by women working in the construction industry about the issues they face. Please see the introductory post for why we are running it. Image source Department of Transport license

Noemi Arena is a Sustainable Engineering Manager for a leading UK contractor and has an Engineering Doctorate in Sustainability for Engineering and Energy Systems. She is an IEMA Practitioner and sits on the IEMA Impact Assessment Network Steering Group. Noemi is dedicated to engineering and to using it creatively in the pursuit of sustainable development. This is the fifth in our series of posts by women working in the construction industry about the issues they face. Please

Rebecca De Cicco manages her own consultancy Digital Node, a consulting company focused on upskilling, training and education the construction industry in BIM and Digital Engineering methods. Rebecca often travels the world to support the business and has clients globally and a team supporting her from differing regions and locations. Digital Node are now working with key government clients globally to effectively support the implementation and framework for digital methods a

As a student, Katie upset the ethos of her girls’ school to pursue a career in civil engineering. Now chartered, Katie has been an integral part of major UK infrastructure project delivery and leading change within the industry. Katie is an ambassador for the promotion of engineering amongst young people, particularly women. This is the third in our series of posts by women working in the construction industry about the issues they face. Please see the introductory post fo

Gerry is COMIT's Company Secretary and Financial Director. She has a degree in psychology and has worked in the construction industry for over 40 years. This is the second in our series of posts by women working in the construction industry about the issues they face. Please see the introductory post for why we are running it. Image source Department of Transport licensed under Creative Commons We have all heard the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and in my experienc

This is the first in our series of posts by women working in the construction industry about the issues they face. Please see the introductory post for why we are running it. This post is by Su Butcher who has worked in construction since the late 1980's. She has a consultancy which advises construction companies how to sell to architects, in particular using digital methods. She supports COMIT by live blogging conferences and is on the Executive Team of the UK BIM Alliance.

In the coming weeks COMIT will be running a series of articles by women working in construction about some of the issues they face. This post is by way of introduction. Image source Department of Transport licensed under Creative Commons Construction needs talented people. We have a skills shortage and our workforce is ageing – and that is happening worldwide. Why then, as an industry, are we effectively ignoring half the working population? Every other talented person out th

Our conference this year was held at the Building Centre in London and was generously supported by IFS. The central venue, good weather and great agenda all conspired to make this one our most successful conferences to date. In total we had 130 delegates from nearly 70 different organisations, most of whom attended both days of the conference. The snap general election and consequent purdah rules gave us a few last minute issues but we had a strong agenda and some fantastic s

Can re-posting positive messages on social media help improve the gender balance in construction? I had the pleasure last night of delivering the COMIT guest lecture to second-year Construction Project Management and QS students at Oxford Brookes University. Part of our remit at COMIT is to engage with the next generation of construction professionals and this fixture has become a regular event on our calendar. The lecture is primarily about the use of mobile computing in con