Construction project in Brisbane seeking female roofers
A Brisbane construction project is on the hunt for female tradies as it tries to set a new record for the number of women on site.
QLD News
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An apartment project in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs is seeking to recruit female tradies with women roofers a main priority.
Exemplar, a 20-unit apartment project at Cannon Hill backed by the Department of Housing and Public Works, is seeking to close the gender gap aiming for a 20 per cent female workforce.
There is currently a 16-strong team of women on the site and an additional 64 women expected to join the team leading up to completion in June next year.
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While most of the trade packages are still to be released there are currently advertisements for female roofers for Exemplar.
However, to be considered to tender for work on government construction sites, businesses must first register with QBuild.
There will be ongoing opportunities for women tradies to tender for work with the Queensland Government including in regional areas.
Statistics from the Australian Labour Market Information Portal found just 12.4 per cent of all construction jobs were held by women.
However, the National Association for Women in Construction (NAWIC) Queensland believes the number of women picking up tools in the industry was much lower — at around 2 per cent.
NAWIC Queensland president Jennifer Gillett said encouraging more women to pick up the tools could provide a boost to the economy by maximising local workforces.
“Coronavirus has highlighted the importance of supporting regional economies by keeping workers employed locally, and it’s fairly clear that the construction industry has an untapped resource due to the shortage of female tradies,” she said.
“We want women to realise that construction offers a solid career path with varied roles — both on and off the tools.”
Casey Bell is one of 16 women on the Exemplar project.
“I’ve worked on a few smaller projects around Brisbane but the atmosphere on a project like Cannon Hill is very different and exciting to be a part of,” she said.
“It’s interesting jobs like this that caught my eye when choosing my trade. There are so many different components to the electrical trade which really appealed to me, plus you get to learn something new every single day and the work constantly challenges me.
“The industry can be daunting for women because it’s so male dominated but choosing this career has been the best decision and it would be great to see more women embrace construction.”
Originally published as Construction project in Brisbane seeking female roofers