The UK construction industry now has a female mascot called Honor Goodsite - created by the Considerate Constructors Scheme - the national organisation established to improve the image of the industry.
Honor Goodsite will promote all that is great about the industry, helping to raise awareness and inspire young children to consider a career in construction when they grow up, as well as delivering important messages about children’s safety around construction sites.
Honor Goodsite is a structural engineer - a key profession within construction - but one which is still very much underrepresented by women. Only six percent of parents surveyed by the Institution of Engineering and Technology said an engineering career would be attractive to their daughters; the challenge is to help change these perceptions among parents as well as children.
She joins the hugely successful industry mascot Ivor Goodsite, a site manager who was introduced by the Scheme in 2003 and has since then visited hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren across the UK.
Honor Goodsite’s first outing was at the Victoria Station Upgrade project - a £700 million project transforming one of the capital’s busiest stations. The Taylor Woodrow BAM Nuttall Joint Venture delivering this project hosted the launch of Honor Goodsite, with the help of 19 children.
Considerate Constructors Scheme Chief Executive Edward Hardy said: “The Scheme is delighted to be launching the UK construction industry’s new mascot, Honor Goodsite. Honor has a hugely important role to improve the construction industry’s image with future generations. As a role model for promoting gender diversity and equality in construction, Honor will encourage schoolchildren to understand the wide range of careers available, while helping to change perceptions of the sector as male-orientated.”
Considerate Constructors Scheme Director Caroline Barker added: “I am delighted that the industry now has a female mascot. As the first female engineer to be recruited at a leading construction organisation in the 1980’s, I know first-hand how exciting an industry it is for everyone.”
Taylor Woodrow Bam Nuttall’s Environmental Manager Caroline O’Connor commented: “It is excellent that the Considerate Constructors Scheme has introduced Honor Goodsite. As a woman working in construction, I can thoroughly recommend it as a great industry to work in. The variety of careers and opportunities in the construction industry is vast, and I am sure Honor Goodsite will help young children and their parents to see that construction is an exciting, rewarding industry, which is open to everyone.”
Women’s Engineering Society’s Chief Executive Dawn Bonfield MBE commented: "The Women's Engineering Society praises the Considerate Constructors Scheme in creating Honor Goodsite. We are delighted that Honor Goodsite's profession is as an engineer, and we are sure that her role will inspire and educate future generations of schoolchildren into the construction sector, and promote greater gender diversity and equality in the workplace."
