Olympic Park ‘big build’ has helped hundreds of women into construction

[richard]

As the Olympic Park and Village ‘big build’ nears completion, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has recognised the contribution of over one thousand women that have worked on site to help deliver the project on time and within budget.

The ODA’s award-winning Women into Construction project, established before construction started in 2008, has successfully helped women access training and employment opportunities on the Olympic Park. The project recruited and placed 266 women directly into jobs with Olympic Park contractors across all trades including electricians, bricklayers, carpenters, traffic marshals, engineers, plumbers, dumper-truck drivers, security guards and signallers.

In total 877 women have worked on the Olympic Park and 166 women have worked on the Olympic Village since construction started. The Women into Construction project has arranged over 362 training opportunities and provided employment support, including one-to-one mentoring to 580 women. Through suppliers and subcontractors many more women across the UK will have gained employment and training helping to deliver the venues and infrastructure for the Games.

ODA Head of Equality, Inclusion, Employment and Skills Loraine Martins said:
'We are on track and firmly focused on the finish line and it’s important to recognise the contribution made by the women on site in helping deliver the Olympic Park and Village on time and within budget.

'Women are traditionally under-represented in construction, limiting their opportunities to interesting and satisfying career opportunities and diminishing the industry’s access to wider range of talent and skills. Through the Women into Construction project, we have demonstrated that women can be attracted, trained and recruited into construction careers.'

Chair of the London Assembly and Member for North East London Jennette Arnold said: 'The Women into Construction team have created a template for the construction industry that works. It has been my great privilege to have met so many of the beneficiaries of the Women into Construction programme and heard how this opportunity has changed their lives. That why I add my voice to the call to every major developer and construction crew without women on their team to accept the equality and inclusion 'baton' and keep the good work going.'

London Development Agency Chief Executive Lurene Joseph said:
'This London Development Agency backed project has got hundreds of women into real jobs, helping to build and transform the Olympic Park from a largely brownfield site into a place that will be at the centre of the world’s attention in 2012.

'The consistent success of the Women Into Construction project shows that it is a model that can be followed on other major construction sites - another great legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.'

Kerri Chambers, an apprentice bricklayer who worked on the Olympic Stadium, said: 'Working on the Olympic Park was an amazing experience. I am proud to have been involved. I loved it and of course I learned a lot, mostly about myself and what I can achieve.'

Annamarie Ferguson, a previously unemployed electrical trainee who had been trying to break into construction for three years and completed her site-based training on the Olympic Park, said: 'The Games only come along once in a lifetime and have given me what I needed – a job.'

Angela Benjamin, trained at the ‘digger school’ on the Olympic Park to work on site as a dumper truck driver, said: 'I jumped at the chance to do the course at the Plant Training Centre, because I heard that people tended to get jobs. I loved working on the London 2012 Games and it’s even more special because I helped build it.'

Notes to editors:

* Download images of women working on the Olympic Park.
* Workers included in the Olympic Park and Olympic Village statistics are those who have spent at least five days working on the site over the period of measurement applied.
* Women in manual trades have made up 3% of the Olympic Park workforce and 6% of the site apprentices have women, above the 1-2% national average.
* The Women into Construction project was funded by the London Development Agency and Construction Skills and has met its target of placing 50 women a year into work placements on the Olympic Park.
* Women into Construction and the ODA gender equality programme in general have been recognised by several awards including: 2009 Women in Science and Engineering, Partnership Award; 2010 Opportunity Now: Innovation Award; 2010 First Women: Business of the Year; 2010 Women of the Future: Corporate Award; The Times Top 50 companies for women

– Ends –

For further information please contact the Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on +44 (0)20 3 2012 700.

The construction of the venues and infrastructure of the London 2012 Games is funded by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency.

Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog


Source
www.london2012.com