Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
The Construction Inclusion Coalition’s (CIC) second annual Impact Report, ‘Building a Better Legacy’, highlights how the Elevate women’s network has doubled in size to 140 members within one year, representing 29 different construction businesses.
The growing network is based on a regular programme of in-person workshops or hosted webinars to discuss and devise strategies on key workplace issues, such as handling unacceptable behaviour in the workplace. In addition, 15 women are currently working with mentors from across 14 businesses in a pilot of a cross company mentoring scheme.
The CIC aims to not only address the imbalance of gender positions and the low percentage of minority groups within the industry, but to also nurture the talent through positive change and help turn the industry’s skills shortage and improve employee retention.
Angela Rushforth, chair of the Construction Inclusion Coalition comments: “Our coalition members are opening their doors, welcoming people in and looking to build a better industry through peer-to-peer collaboration, networking and sharing resources. We now have a coalition that is a hub of vital resources, the host of wide range of events and the source of some thriving initiatives that can help employees searching for more inclusion to find their voice.”
CIC plans for 2025 into 2026 includes a continued focus on gender inclusion and creating inclusive workplaces, the promotion of more family-friendly HR policies and initiatives and enlisting more men in construction for allyship. These plans will be ratified at the Coalition in Conversation conference to be held on October 9.
