FREE ONLINE CONFERENCE: Wellbeing & Diversity in Construction

Balfour Beatty – Amanda McKay, Quality Director Major Projects/Nuclear Quality Director

Amanda McKay is an Out Trans Woman who came out to the world at the age of 49, working for Balfour Beatty as Quality Director for the Major Projects business.  As an out Bi Trans Woman and the most senior LGBT+ employee within Balfour Beatty, Amanda actively supports the LGBT+ community and works to demonstrate that Balfour Beatty is a diverse, inclusive and accepting employer. She is a Co-chair of the Gender Equality network and Chair for the LGBT+ & Allies network, and promotes both through public speaking, facilitating events and workshops. Amanda is a member of the executive board of Building Equality and a Trustee of the Chartered Quality Institute as well as being an active volunteer with a number of LGBT charities.

She regularly supports external organisations in their approaches to LGBT+ policy and employees working with the Balfour Beatty supply chain and clients to help establish their own approaches to LGBT+.

DiverseCity Surveyors – Bola Abisogun FRICS, Founder & Executive Director

An eminent Independent Management Consultant, Bola qualified as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor in 1999 and is also a Chartered Construction Manager. He is committed to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors [RICS] where he remains a licensed APC Assessor, nurturing the next generation of aspiring Chartered Quantity Surveyors and a member of the London Regional Board. A Fellow of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors [RICS], Bola was appointed as Chair of the Equality & Human Rights Commissions’ in 2010 to lead the Construction Leadership and Diversity Forum [CLDF] developed in response to the EHRC Inquiry “Race Discrimination in the UK Construction Industry”.

Bola has successfully procured and delivered, in excess of £8billion in capital projects across the UK in an array of sectors, with extensive public sector procurement and contract management experience. He has actively participated and delivered on multiple public sector construction frameworks, with a focus on the housing, health and education sectors amidst the wider use-case or Digital Twins.

Since 2014, he has been Chairman of a unique, pan-London project called Moving on Up (MoU), a multi-million pound initiative supported by the (Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan) and jointly funded by Trust for London and the City Bridge Trust.

The Guinness Partnership – Liz Skelton, Director of Health & Safety

Liz is the Director for Health and Safety for one of the largest affordable housing and care providers in the country. They own and manage more than 65,000 homes and provide housing and care services for 140,000 customers. They are a national charitable housing association working across England that also deliver care and support services across the country. Liz will give us an insight into Guinness’ response to the crisis and how it is catering to the health and wellbeing of its staff and residents in these challenging times.

Mates in Mind – James Rudoni, Managing Director

Mates in Mind is a mental wellbeing charity working in the property and construction sector. It has an ambitious goal – to have reached 75% of the construction industry by 2025. James will be informing us about their latest Wellbeing strategy which will look at physical and mental wellbeing during the current crisis.

Constructing Rainbows – Sharon Slinger, Director

Having worked in the construction and facilities management industries for nearly 20 years as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor for main contractors, Sharon has seen and experienced the many positives that built environment careers bring. She also noticed the lack of diversity within the industry, and as more and more research was produced demonstrating the business benefits of diverse organisations, it became obvious to her that we all need to be doing better. So in 2017, she set up Constructing Rainbows, to share her knowledge and experience more widely to help others improve their businesses, the wider industry and ultimately the bottom line.

Construct-Ability – Christina Riley, Managing Director

Christina Riley has worked in the construction industry for 25 years. She founded LGBT Construct, which has over 5000 followers globally on social media. The forum promotes greater inclusion in the workplace in the construction sector and provides advice for inclusive cultures. She is a champion for enabling people with disabilities in to the construction and property industry and creating greater accessibility for people with visible as well as hidden disabilities. Christina has won a number of awards including the prestigious British LGBT Awards Corporate Rising Star in 2017.

Canary Wharf Group – Andy Haigh, Senior Sustainability Manager

In a time where flexible working has become part of the zeitgeist, we will find out about how one the UK’s most iconic developers is incorporating it into their projects.  Andy will take us through the future of working for the Canary Wharf Group.

MODA Living – James R Blakey, Planning Director

James will join the conference to update on Moda Living’s £260m Brighton scheme which will deliver 564 homes for private rent, and 260 homes for later living. James will also update on their collaboration with leading global real estate development and investment group, Osbourne & Co, that will deliver new live and work campuses – combining BtR with life sciences and high-quality commercial space.

Newforma – Clara Rettinger, Executive

Newforma´s ethos is to give architects, engineers, contractors, owners, project managers, quantity surveyors and other AECO professionals as much freedom as possible and at the same time provide all the functionality, they need to manage their project information sufficiently without the rigor approach of breaking up a company´s existing workflows and structure and forcing entire project teams to change the way they work. Clara will join the session to discuss Newforma’s platform and the future of mobile platforms in the built environment industries.

Jacobs – Luke Ives, Social Value and I&D Coordinator, People & Places Solutions, EMEA

Luke has over 6 years’ experience working within construction, engineering and the built environment with Jacobs and Balfour Beatty. He is also the Chair of Building Equality Greater Manchester and a member of the Executive Board. Through this role he spearheaded the Building Equality LGBT+ Inclusion Toolbox Talk and poster campaign, which has been delivered to site operatives and office workers across the UK. Luke has also implemented a series of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion regional industry events, that bring together the whole Built Environment to discuss LGBT+ topics, such as Trans Awareness in business.

Real Estate Balance – Sue Brown, Managing Director

One of the most passionate voices combating gender imbalance across real estate, Sue is a hugely experienced property professional who is a well known name in our sector. Having been one of the driving forces behind MIPIM and spent time delivering complex projects for London First, Sue will set out how Real Estate Balance are leading the charge on diversification.

Timewise Foundation – Angela Goldsmith, Consultant

Timewise have teamed up with some of the construction sector’s biggest names to research, design and pilot new approaches that could herald a revolution in working practices across construction. Angela will reveal more details about  the schemes and how the future of work in the property and construction sectors could look.

Kier – Tracy Smith, Health & Wellbeing Ambassador

We will hear from Tracy about the award winning wellbeing programme Kier has been implementing over the past few years. Tracy has over 12 years experience working on wellbeing strategies at Kier and previously at Amey.

Countryside – Marion Whitty, Head of Talent & Development

Marion heads up the talent division at Countryside – one of the top housing developers in the UK. Boasting an award winning graduate programme, we will hear how Countryside attracts, develops and retains its talent and what the future holds for attracting talent in post pandemic Britain.

Black Professionals in Construction – Amos Simbo, Director and Founder

Amos Simbo is the founder of Winway Consultants a building services contractor as well as BPIC Network (Black Professionals in Construction). BPIC Network is a built environment inclusion business that works in partnership with organisations to improve the ethnic minority representation and retention. Whilst his business Winway Consultants is an MEP (Mechanical Electrical and Public Health) commercial fitout design and management consultant, working with clients as well as main contractors to design and manage fitout projects.

Winway Consultants is a MEP (Mechanical Electrical and Public health) commercial fitout design and management consultant, working with clients as well and main contractors to design as well as manage fitout projects.

BPIC Network is a built environment inclusion business that works in partnership with industry organisations to focus on improving the ethnic minority representation and retention. We are dedicated to providing guidance, careers, training and networking events tailored to those currently working and aspiring to be in the industry. We also look to create an aspirational platform for the youth and those seeking to join the built environment. The vision is to facilitate careers in construction as well as work with organizations looking to improve their diverse representation including the advancement of ethnic minority professionals.

Space & Place – Christine Hartigan, Spa, Fitness & Wellness Design Consultant

Christine-Alice has a great passion for Health & Wellbeing! This passion which has led to a career ‘working in Wellness.’  Christine-Alice works full time in Architecture; as a project leader for Spa and Wellness. SPACE & PLACE have a great desire to work with others who share a common goal ‘to create healthier communities’.