Women Thriving in Construction – The research and the reality

Summary

Our amazing guest speakers

Anna Piña

Anna is a chartered construction project manager, lecturer, and the founder of Self-Project Management Advisors. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Reading, researching women in construction. Her doctoral thesis concerns an exploration of the experience of women who own and manage small construction firms in the UK. A small business owner herself, Anna is deeply passionate about promoting gender diversity and inclusivity within the construction industry.

Jennifer Makkreel

Jennifer Makkreel has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering from the University Of Ottawa and has over 20 years of experience in construction project management in Australia, Canada and the UK. She has previously worked for one of North America’s largest main contractors before moving to client side project management at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada. In the UK, Jennifer was the Head of the Programme Management Office for Oxfordshire County Council prior to joining the University in 2014 where she is the Acting Head of Capital Projects and the Programme Manager for the Humanities and Social Sciences portfolios of projects. In this capacity she is Project Director for the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, and the Estates Representative on the Global Leadership Centre Project Board.

Jennifer has been a member of the CIOB since 2008, and Chair of the Oxford Hub Committee since 2018. She has also been a Members Forum representative on both the CIOB Finance Committee and External Affairs, and has been a Client Champion since 2022.

Lucy Wiltshire

Lucy has over 30 years of construction industry experience working with various Tier 1 contractors in the Southwest and Southeast.

Having studied BSc in Quantity Surveying part time at UWE, Bristol, this fuelled her passion for championing vocational routes into a career in construction. It was also the start of Lucy’s 35- year continuous journey with the CIOB, having first joined the Avon Centre committee in Bristol in 1990. When she moved to Reading in 2000, Lucy became part of the CIOB Thames Valley Centre.

In 2017, Lucy joined the Department of Education’s Construction Panel to develop the content of the T Level in Design, Surveying and Planning. This qualification was one of the first T Levels to be offered in colleges across UK in 2020 and is a landmark in the transformation of post 16 qualifications. Lucy now has a place on the IfATE’s Construction Route Panel, reviewing apprenticeship and T Level standards.

Lucy enjoys networking with other construction professionals and is Vice-Chair for CIOB Oxford Hub. This appointment followed her tenure at CIOB Reading Hub, where Lucy held various posts over a 25-year period. Lucy is currently partway through her FCIOB submission.

Contact

Paige Frith

Member Services and Events Coordinator - Oxford and Reading

+44 7545942361

[email protected]