THAMES TIDEWAY TUNNEL
Apprentices on the Thames Tideway Tunnel
“ This is not really a man ’ s world — we need women and we need diversity ,” he says . “ It ’ s a fact that a diverse workforce is a more productive one . If we are to deliver infrastructure that is of most use to society , we are more likely to achieve that with a team that is representative of that society .”
It will be an uphill task . Over a six-month period at the start of 2014 , only 21 percent of job applicants were female .
“ At the peak of construction , we ’ ll be creating more than 4,000 direct jobs and another 5,000 indirect . We need to make sure that when we advertise those roles we ’ re getting a far better rate of female applicants than we are now ,” Mitchell admits . “ Gender parity is a bold statement , and maybe it is too ambitious , but I don ’ t see the point in striving for anything less . If we achieve this goal , I believe it will change the face of construction for future generations .” This policy may have been the deciding factor in securing the TTT a place in the Strategic Top 100 .
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