A 22-year-old woman is cementing a career in construction after swapping the office for the building site.

Caitlin Blair has gone from being a construction administrator to trainee assistant site manager with Bellway West Midlands.

She is now working at the housebuilder’s Harvino development at the former Bluebird factory site in Hunnington.

Halesowen News:

The 22-year-old said: “I joined Bellway in 2021 and was providing administrative support for the construction team, but was fascinated by the whole process of how a house was built and wanted to be out on the site learning all about the build programme.

“After a couple of years of feeling that I was in the wrong role, I decided to do something about it in my performance review with the construction director.

"I plucked up the courage to tell him about my interest in construction and my desire to work in that team and he said he would look into it for me.

“Before I knew it, I had transferred to another side of the business and was enrolled as a trainee assistant site manager.

"I am working as part of the site team at the Harvino development in Hunnington and am loving it.”

Caitlin is telling her story to encourage more women to make a career in the building industry.

Bellway has set itself a target to improve the gender diversity of its directly employed workforce to a 60/40 male/female split by July 2025.

Last year this split was 69/31. Bellway is also part of the Home Builders Federation’s Women into Housebuilding Programme, which was launched in January 2023 to attract more women into trainee assistant site manager roles.

Marie Richards, Sales Director at Bellway West Midlands, said: “The job change that Caitlin made shows just how you can alter the path of your career and fill a role that you are passionate about."