Negative publicity around sexual harassment, the Gender Pay Gap and a reputation as a male-dominated industry, run the risk of putting off young girls who might otherwise consider a career in property and construction. Industry organisation, Women in Property, knows how important it is to encourage more women into the sector, citing a healthy pipeline of new talent, a flexible working environment and inspirational female role models as critical to this challenge.
Speaking at a special event to celebrate the Women in Property South West Student Awards at Hotel du Vin in Bristol, branch Chairman Carly Willis from Claremont, said, “As an industry we need to nurture our talent pool and provide a platform to boost our rising stars into the property and construction sector. Women in Property runs a number of different initiatives to encourage young women to explore the rewarding and diverse range of careers available within our industry. The Women in Property Student Awards is one of them and has now been running an amazing 12 years. It gives us as an organisation fantastic engagement with the students, universities, and employers who are looking to engage with the talent of the next generation.
“Our programme puts the students in the position to challenge themselves, recognise the own abilities, really stand out and most importantly become ‘role models’ for the next generations and others around them. We want to get behind them and offer our support as they are our future leaders.”
Because of its geographical size, there are two winners of the South West Student Awards 2018:
Sally Kerr, is studying Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Exeter.
Robyn Dearden is studying Rural Land Management at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester.
Charlotte Kurobasa, Associate with national sponsor Savills, was on the 2018 judging panel. She said, “I was really overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the students and effort put into their preparation and presentations. The quality of the work and candidates we saw certainly provides great promise for the future of our industry! It was great to have been involved in this initiative and hope it continues to encourage more young women to pursue successful careers in the built environment.”
There are 14 regional finalists representing their Universities and regions from across the UK. They will go forward to the national final on 18th September when they go before a further judging panel. The national winner will be announced at the Best of Best Awards Dinner to be held at Claridge’s, on the night of the 18th.
Women in Property is grateful to its three national sponsors, Bouygues, Linden Homes and Savills and to regional sponsors Willmott Dixon and Stride Treglown for their support of these Awards.
