Women in ground engineering: Redressing the balance

Ground engineering has a historical gender imbalance with significant under representation of women. This under representation, particularly in more senior roles, is one of the key blockers to inspiring the next generation to join the industry.

There is also an under representation of women in the skilled population of geotechnical and ground engineering operatives, which the industry is working hard to change.

Bam Ritchies is committed to recruiting, developing and providing opportunities to ensure that all women in its business can achieve their full potential.

Bam Nuttall’s workforce is 18% female with more women joining in 2023 than leaving. Bam Ritchies employs 46 women, which is 12% of its workforce. Of these, 35% are professionally qualified and pushing the boundaries of women in ground engineering. Bam Ritchies has had one UK first, the first woman to gain MPQC Level 5 Certificate for blast design. It also has three Bam firsts, first CSci registration with IOM3, first Registered Environmental Practitioner with IOM3 and first to gain IEng.

Bam Ritchies believes it is very important to retain and develop its female staff and to attract women into the business. In recognition of this, it has trained all managers to recognise ways that unconscious bias can affect its activities, including talent identification and planning. The firm accepts that it has much more work to do to achieve better balance and representation and is committed to continually improving this. In addition, it is committed to attracting more women via its early careers routes, which in time will create a more diverse talent pipeline.

The Women in Rail Mentoring Scheme is a cross-company mentoring programme. It pairs mentees and mentors across the participating organisations to provide new insights into different ways of working. This scheme is a sustainable, scalable and transferable cross-company initiative designed to provide a support platform for talent in the rail industry to grow. The scheme is committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within the rail sector, so it was important for Bam Ritchies to participate, not only to benefit its own employees, but those across the industry. It is beneficial to retain, accelerate and increase the visibility of diverse talent within Bam and Bam Ritchies and it engages and develops leaders as inclusive allies and role models.

For several years, Bam has had numerous networks supporting gender equality in its businesses. They have recently come together to form the Gender Action Network supporting and guiding its entire business including Bam Ritchies. As the Gender Action Network addresses the ongoing issues that the industry faces regarding gender equality, equity and parity, the contractor recognises that gender is not binary and says it will endeavour to encompass and support all genders.

Over many years, studies have shown that a more diverse workforce is a more durable workforce, able to adapt more quickly. That is why Bam Ritchies has has put diversity and inclusion at the heart of its strategy of building a sustainable tomorrow.

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