A former beauty therapist is one of the new generation of women in the construction industry. Women's Editor Christen Pears meets her.

THE construction industry. The very phrase conjures up images of wolf-whistling builders, drinking numerous cups of tea and revealing an indecent amount of bum cleavage above a pair of low-slung jeans. But things are changing.

Yvonne Chilvers, a trainee maintenance officer with Endeavour Housing Association in Stockton, couldn't be further from the stereotypical image. She's 28, blonde and a former beauty therapist.

"My dad was a builder so I've always been interested in that side of things but I trained as a beauty therapist. I worked for a couple of years but all the jobs were away from home and I didn't want to do that," she says.

"I started work with a housing association in Middlesbrough in the repairs section. That was basically just answering calls about defects and repairs and after a while I realised I wanted to move on and be one of the inspection officers who went out to the defects and repairs."

She did an ONC in Building Studies before moving to Endeavour as a trainee maintenance officer. The company has drawn up a four-year training programme for her, which includes one day a week at Darlington College of Technology studying for an HNC in Building Studies.

"Women have a certain image of construction and building which puts them off. They don't realise there are jobs for people that aren't just on the tools. As long as women get the proper training and experience, they can do any job as well as a man."

The HNC covers a range of topics, including technology, science and materials, maths and land surveying.

Fifty per cent of the 36-week course is practical and 50 per cent is academic.

Les Atkinson, course tutor, has been teaching at the college since 1988 and says although there have always been one or two girls studying construction, the figure still stands at just ten per cent.

"There aren't many but girls who have done the courses have tended to be very successful. I think it's important that we get the message across that girls can do construction. They think it's all out on the site and dirt and grime. They think it's a man's world but it's actually not.

"There are plenty of opportunities for females in construction. They can go into architecture or building surveying or quantity surveying."

Work is already under way at the college to attract more women to construction courses, ranging from bricklaying and plumbing to site management and architecture. Les does, however, admit that more needs to be done within the industry itself.

"There's not a huge amount we can do to bring women in. It's the employers who need to do that. They need to change the image of the industry and make it more accessible to ladies."

The shift away from vocational courses in recent years has led to a skills shortage. In the North-East, there are 5,200 construction-related businesses employing 79,000 people. But more than 2,500 workers are still needed to meet demand.

On a recent visit to the college, Sir Michael Latham, chairman of the Construction Industry Training Board, called for action to encourage more women into the industry.

"We can no longer afford to ignore 50 per cent of the population," he said.

Yvonne does believe things are changing as more women take up courses but there is still resistance on both sides.

"There are a lot of men from the old school who don't believe construction is for women but if you can do your job properly, it's easy to prove them wrong.

"Most of the people in my job go into it after they've been on the tools for years so I was different that way as well as being a woman. But it hasn't been a problem at all. I just get on with my job. Tenants and colleagues just treat me the same as all of the other maintenance officers."