With this year’s International Women’s Day theme of #Accelerate Action in mind, a team of Taylor Wimpey East Scotland’s female talent shared their experience working in their role as part of the housebuilding industry with a group of young women at Queensferry High School.

The housebuilder’s visit to Queensferry High School is the first of two initiatives planned to inspire young women to consider a career in the industry. In the next few months, it has also planned a visit to its nearby Hawthorn Gardens development to give the students a first-hand feel for life at a working construction site and an opportunity to try some practical skills, such as bricklaying.

Emmy Martin, production manager for Taylor Wimpey East Scotland, who was involved in the event, added: “Our young female talent are, in themselves, a representation of the progress that we have made in making our industry a more attractive place to thrive for everyone regardless of their gender.

“We will always strive to do more, so bringing Laura, Rebecca and Caitlin together at Queensferry High School to discuss their careers and how they enjoy working in the housebuilding industry was an excellent opportunity for us to inspire future young talent to consider our industry.

“Our team’s lived experience as talented female employees working within what is perceived to be a male dominated environment was inspirational and engaging, and it was clear from our visit that students were surprised by the broad range of careers housebuilding offers. We’re now looking forward to welcoming them all to our local development at Hawthorn Gardens so they can get a flavour of what we do for themselves first-hand.”

Michael Fong, Queensferry High School’s Developing the Young Workforce School Co-ordinator, commented: “Having an opportunity for our young S3 female students to talk to an all-female team from Taylor Wimpey East Scotland who each have roles within the housebuilding industry that are typically and stereotypically categorised as male positions was enlightening for everyone in the room.

“It was clear that housebuilding offers a wealth of different opportunities and that everyone should feel they can consider every role. From accountancy and law to land buying, surveying, building, commercial, sales, marketing and trades – there’s a world of opportunity, and young women should not feel limited. We were delighted to welcome the team from Taylor Wimpey East Scotland into school and we are looking forward to joining them on-site at the Hawthorn Gardens development.”