Rail Minister Endorses Women Into Construction’s Crossrail Partnership
Rail Minister Claire Perry MP met a new generation of women construction workers at Crossrail’s Farringdon station, marking a new partnership between Europe’s largest infrastructure project and Women into Construction.
Women into Construction are working with Crossrail and its supply chain to create work experience and employment opportunities on Crossrail sites all over London.
Rail Minister Claire Perry said: “The Crossrail partnership with Women into Construction sends a clear signal that now is the perfect time for women to pursue a career in this growing and exciting sector. I hope that many of the positive role models I have met today can inspire the next generation of female engineers and construction workers.
“Crossrail is bringing huge economic benefits, creating a trained construction workforce which can help deliver the infrastructure projects of the future. With government investment in schemes such as HS2, opportunities in construction will continue to grow.”
Kath Moore, Managing Director, Women into Construction, said: “Our partnership with Crossrail gives Women into Construction a unique opportunity to work directly with both Crossrail and their supply chain and help to address the current skills-gaps in construction as we seek to attract and retain far greater numbers of women into the industry.”
Valerie Todd, Crossrail Talent and Resources Director, said: “Crossrail is committed to doing all we can to make construction an exciting and attractive career option for women. This partnership is not only increasing the numbers of women working on the Crossrail build but is helping to further raise awareness of the benefits to be gained by the industry taking on a more diverse workforce.”
Dana Skelley, Director of Asset Management for Surface Transport at TfL, said:“Women are playing a huge part in ensuring that London has a transport network that keeps up with the capital’s growth in the next 15 years. They are playing a vital role in planning, designing, constructing, maintaining and improving the capital’s transport network, and it is fantastic that the construction and transport industries are joining forces to inspire and encourage the next generation of young women to join the transport industry and help bridge the skills and gender gap.”
Crossrail’s first Women into Construction event took place at the Pudding Mill Lane site. Hosted by Morgan Sindall, the event resulted in work placements in Morgan Sindall’s engineering, health and safety and commercial teams. Further work placements have since been secured with other Crossrail principal contractors including Dragados-Sisk and Alstom-TSO-Costain.
