WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION

Organised by Stirling City Heritage Trust, and supported by Historic Environment Scotland the Women in Construction events are held each year for pupils of secondary schools in Stirling who have an interest in the construction industry.

The two-day event in 2024 was held at Bannockburn House, and aimed to encourage female high school pupils to consider a career in the construction/heritage sectors by showing them how varied and rewarding the work can be. The lead demonstrators were women working in the construction industry and/or heritage sector, as SCHT believe that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’.

Over the course of the two-day event, pupils worked together to build a pergola which will be gifted to Bannockburn House as a legacy of the event and symbol of their hard work.

Involvement.

The first year I got involved as one of the workshop facilitators at Wallace High Shool, where a group of different hosts involved the pupils in some practical skills showing their own trade. I showed joinery and design.

In 2024 the idea was to do a two day build event, so I designed, coordinated and ran a timber framing workshop with two of my colleagues, to allow the pupils to build something larger and more permanent.

It was a huge success, some of them were real naturals, and took to the tasks extremely well. It was a push but we just about pegged it all together when the final bus came to pick them up take them back to school. My idea of success is seeing some of the pupils teach the others by the end, and we get to stand back and oversee.