As part of the #BuildingEquality 2018 Campaign, Aisling Graham, Quantity Surveyor, Flynn Management & Contractors, shares her story as a woman in construction.

I studied Quantity Surveying in IT Sligo and graduated in 2010. I then returned in 2011 to complete a Bsc (Hons) add on in Construction Project Management. There was only one other girl in my class; it was the first year the course had been rolled out in the college.

Its funny how I ended up studying the course. I went in to a presentation on Quantity Surveying at an open day in IT Sligo in my final year of secondary school by accident and the rest is history! I was hooked!

At the start of my degree there were six girls attending the course, which eventually dwindled down to three by our final year. The girls didn’t stick together on their own. We mixed with the lads and were not treated any differently by our classmates or lecturers which is something I am glad of.

After finishing college in 2012, opportunities for graduates in Ireland were few and far between. I emigrated to Perth, Australia within a month of my final exams and ended up staying there for five years practicing as a Quantity Surveyor with a residential contractor.

I returned to Ireland in May 2017 and have been working as a QS in Dublin since. Whilst the overall percentage of women working in construction is still lower than we’d like it to be, I think most construction workers now have experienced working with a woman and its no longer something which people are surprised to see on a building site, which is very encouraging.

To learn more about the #BuildingEquality campaign and to share your own story, please visit our dedicated #BuildingEquality page here

Construction Industry Federation