Actis marks International Women’s Day to help raise awareness of gender bias
Actis is marking International Women’s Day by celebrating the achievements of some of the female members of the team across the UK.
Actis regional sales director Jemma Harris is also one of scores of Women in Construction ambassadors, who are on a mission to drive equality and diversity within the construction industry.
"Diversity and inclusion are always something industries should strive for. I'd like to think that, along with other women in the industry, we are making an impact and difference in inspiring the next female generation to get involved in construction,” she said.
Among activities aimed at encouraging more young women into the profession have been talks to teenage girls about her own career path – which saw her move from the Royal Navy into another traditionally male industry.
Year 11 students at a recent talk said they were inspired as a result of hearing what she had to say, with comments such as: “Jemma’s talk gave us a chance to show young women that they can do anything that they actually want to do and that they don’t have to do the stereotypical ‘girl jobs’ and that girls are just as good as boys and that everything should be equal.”
Another attendee said: “It helped open young minds that they shouldn’t listen to people who tell them that they can’t do something because they are a girl and that this is a ‘guy job.’”
Actis regional specification manager Amaret Chahal says she relishes the opportunity to show that being female is no barrier to a profession in the construction industry.
“I also enjoy the fact that as a young woman of colour I have the opportunity to share my knowledge and technical understanding on all types of specifications, both simple and complex. Also, the Actis team in the north is all-female and I love that we are women working in a demanding industry which is traditionally male-dominated.
As well as presenting some of Actis’ popular CPD sessions, Amaret helps specifiers overcome complex thermal efficiency issues.
“I was recently working with someone whose new-build had a very complicated truss design in the roof. The manufacturers had designed it with trusses in different directions, so it was very difficult to offer a solution with insulating vapour control layer HControl Hybrid going underneath the rafters. So we had to think about different options. Eventually we decided on Hybris and BoostR Hybrid in the pitched roof and HControl Hybrid underneath the ceiling.
“This isn't a usual specification, but by doing the right calculations to see any condensation risks and the biggest gap between Hybris and HControl we were able to offer a solution that suited him practically. We did this so that he didn't need to change the roof design and he could use the full system.
“This is one example of the sort of thinking we do to improve the specification and save customers money.”
Actis South East and London area sales manager Liane Bayliss was recently longlisted for an annual industry award for helping customers across the South East address complex technical issues and running merchant training sessions.
And area sales manager for the West Midlands and South Wales, Gemma Slatcher, helped the developer of a dramatic 6,700 sq ft barrel-roofed house in the Cotswolds with the specification for his glulam roof.
Garry Dyke, director of SIPs specialist Point 1 Building Systems, another of whose projects secured a spot on TV’s Grand Designs, worked with Gemma to devise a build-up which would see the roof achieve a U-value of 0.14.
“The guys who fitted it absolutely loved it,” said Garry. “They said it was the best thing since sliced bread.”
Gemma also says breaking the bias needs to start in schools. “Most construction trades are aimed at men, so if this is spoken about in schools more I think more girls would be inclined to look at it for a future career. Go and get some experience. If you have a family member in the construction industry ask them if you can do some work experience with them to get a feel if that’s what you would like to do.”