Thames Tideway pledges to boost women engineer numbers

The Thames Tideway Tunnel project has committed to boosting the number of women in engineering, in support of the Cabinet Office’s ‘Your Life’ campaign, launched this week.

The company responsible for delivering the £5 billion tunnel said it would increase the proportion of female science, technology, engineering and maths ambassadors 10 per cent by 2015.

It has also pledged to maintain an equal gender balance in its work experience placements “as far as reasonably practicable” and will encourage a greater proportion of women applicants for graduate and trainee positions.

According to the Adam Smith Institute, only 11 per cent of the construction workforce is female. Thames Tideway Tunnel said it supports government targets to get 30 per cent of undergraduates studying engineering and technology to be women by 2030.

Mike Gerrard, managing director of Thames Tideway Tunnel, said: “Around thirty per cent of our current project workforce are women, including some of our most talented engineers. We have created a Thames Tideway Tunnel Women’s Forum which focuses on raising their profile and supporting career development.

“We realise that a lot more can be done. That is why we have made further commitments to the Government’s campaign. We look forward to helping make this a great success.”