UWTSD hosts Sustainable Construction Careers Fair during Women in Construction Week

11 March 2024

To celebrate Women in Construction Week (March 3 to 9), the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s (UWTSD) hosted the first Sustainable Construction Careers Fair at our IQ building in Swansea on March 6.

Its aim was to provide UWTSD students and graduates, as well as visiting students from Neath Port Talbot College (NPTC) and Gower College Swansea, with an opportunity to meet a wide range of environmentally conscious companies; to network, and research job prospects within these companies.

Women in Construction Week celebrates and promotes the role of women in the construction industry and recognises the vital role they play in shaping the future of the construction industry.

As well as a fair, guests enjoyed a number of insightful presentations from women working in construction, architecture and environmental roles. Speakers included Dr Alissa Flatley, a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Conservation and Management at UWTSD, Rachel Cook, Head of Networks at Woodknowledge Wales who is former UWTSD staff as well as graduate of BSc Project and Construction Management through Degree Apprenticeship route, and Michelle Murillo, a BSc Architecture graduate now working as an Architectural Technician at James and Nicholas Architects based in Port Talbot.

We also welcomed back Lindsay Richards, former teaching staff and Head of ACE who is now Managing Director of Richards Partnership, Chartered Quantity Surveyors and Chartered Building Engineers in Swansea. Lindsay has worked in the construction industry for several years and is passionate about seeing women progress in the sector. She is also a Board Director of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers and a Construction Professional Group Panel member at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Our careers exhibition attracted over 35 organisations with several sectors representing construction, architecture, energy, environmental and professional organisations. Thanks to all of these employers that made the event the success that it was.

Staff from ACE and CWIC also organised a range of demonstrations and activities based on the theme of sustainability. These included straw bale construction, a reinforced earth workshop, an opportunity to learn about sustainability in construction using virtual reality, and a Quake Shake workshop which entailed exploring how to construct buildings in earthquake zones to withstand the forces encountered.

Here’s a gallery of some of the activities, speakers, and employers there on the day: