WOMEN who work for a construction company in the region are helping to increase the number of females in building jobs and change the industry's image of "blokes, bums and bricks".

Only one per cent of construction workers are female even though one in eight girls are keen to work in the sector, research found.

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) launched a £1m campaign aimed at attracting more women, as well as people from minority ethnic groups to apply for building jobs.

Darlington-based international infrastructure development company, Halcrow, stands out from the crowd because 25 per cent of its professional and technical team in the North-East is female - 15 per cent higher than the national average for the whole of the construction industry.

Halcrow, which has offices in Darlington, Stockton and Gateshead, has volunteered eight of its female civil engineers to help fly the flag for women in construction.

They will be mentors for year-nine female pupils who are taking part in a CITB-ConstructionSkills initiative called "8th Wonder of the Tees Valley". The inter-schools competition aims to encourage the region's brightest females to consider a career in the industry.

Female mentors from industry will guide the teams in their task in setting-up a mock mini construction company and coming up with a master plan to regenerate one of a few selected sites across the Tees Valley.

CITB-ConstructionSkills education officer Terry Hanlon said: "This competition is all about letting young females know that there are great opportunities in the industry for them. Having positive female mentors who are professionals in the industry is very important. We want to dispel the myth that construction is just for men."

Construction is growing rapidly and the industry needs 86,000 recruits this year in a range of jobs.

Last year, only 22 young women in England took up plumbing apprenticeships compared with 3,000 young men.

Published: 19/04/2005