​Carrington West hosted an insightful webinar in collaboration with Tanya Andrews, Founder and CEO of Trellis Collective. The session addressed the pressing skills shortage in the built environment by exploring strategies for attracting and retaining early-career women in male-dominated industries. With a focus on actionable insights, the discussion provided valuable guidance for hiring managers, HR professionals, and business leaders looking to diversify their workforce and strengthen talent pipelines.

You can view a recording of the webinar below.

Overview of the Webinar

James Fernandes, MD of Carrington West, opened the webinar by framing the conversation around the growing talent deficit in the built environment sector. He highlighted that this shortage is projected to worsen over the next two years due to increased retirements and a lack of new entrants into the field. Tanya Andrews categorised the root causes of the skills shortage into supply and appeal. The industry struggles with a lack of trained professionals due to underinvestment in STEM education, Brexit-related workforce reductions, and a limited number of graduates entering the field. Additionally, workplace appeal is hindered by rigid career structures, geographic constraints, poor work-life balance, and a perception that the sector is unwelcoming to women.

Attracting Women to Male Dominated Sectors

​

Tanya addressed misconceptions about why women do not enter the built environment sector, including assumptions that they lack interest, are reluctant to take risks, or require impractical levels of flexibility. In reality, early social conditioning, gender stereotypes, limited role models, workplace norms, and confidence gaps create barriers to entry. Participants identified key challenges within their organisations, such as the absence of female senior role models, male-dominated cultures, and short term contracts that deter women from joining.

​

Tanya briefly touched on the fact that Gen Z workers, who will soon make up 30% of the workforce, have fundamentally different workplace expectations than previous generations. Their priorities include work-life balance, authenticity, inclusivity, rapid career development, technological engagement, and meaningful work. Many organisations struggle to reconcile these expectations with existing leadership structures. Tanya encouraged attendees to rethink workplace policies and communication styles to better align with Gen Z values for both male and female attraction and retention.

Retaining Women in Male Dominated Sectors

Retention was identified as a significant challenge, with female employees often leaving due to poor maternity policies, lack of female representation in leadership, limited career progression opportunities, workplace microaggressions, unconscious bias, and being assigned administrative or coordination tasks that do not contribute to career advancement. Tanya introduced seven key pillars that contribute to the retention of early-career women: safety, certainty, self-worth, value, connection, belonging, and clear career trajectory.

What Strategies Can We Use?

To improve attraction and retention, Tanya shared strategies such as mentorship programmes, targeted recruitment campaigns, engagement with schools and universities, flexible working arrangements, and tracking progress through retention statistics, engagement surveys, and qualitative feedback. She highlighted the importance of fostering an inclusive work environment by actively promoting career progression opportunities for women, ensuring fair hiring processes, and addressing unconscious bias at all levels. Businesses should invest in leadership development initiatives, create structured return-to-work programmes, and establish policies that support work-life balance to encourage long-term retention.

Tanya provided examples of companies that have successfully improved female representation, including Balfour Beatty, Skanska, and Laing O’Rourke. These firms have implemented targeted recruitment campaigns for women, structured career development programmes, and set public diversity targets. They have also introduced internal mentorship schemes, workplace flexibility initiatives, and proactive engagement with schools and universities to strengthen the talent pipeline from an early stage.

The webinar concluded with an invitation for attendees to reflect on one actionable change they could implement in their organisations immediately. Participants were encouraged to explore mentorship initiatives, modernise recruitment strategies, and review company policies to better align with Gen Z and female workforce expectations. Tanya highlighted that while these changes require investment, they yield significant long-term benefits, positioning organisations as employers of choice in an increasingly competitive market.

About The Trellis Collective

As an additional resource, Tanya introduced Trellis Collective’s First Five Professional Development Programme for early career women, designed to support them in their first five years of careers in male-dominated industries. The programme focuses on increasing retention and participation by addressing confidence, workplace navigation, and career progression. Attendees were encouraged to explore how this initiative could complement their internal efforts in developing a diverse workforce.

You can find out more information at https://www.trelliscollective.com/uk