A prestigious national awards ceremony during UK Construction Week has crowned Kier Construction’s design manager Emily Carr as Scotland’s Local Hero.
The award was presented at the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Construction Awards 2024 held recently in Birmingham, which celebrates outstanding women working within the construction sector.
Emily is a qualified architect, now working as a design manager for Kier Construction in Glasgow and describes herself as ‘passionate about design risk management in architectural conservation, retrofit, and community enhancement’.
Upon receiving the award, Emily said, “For me, construction isn’t just about building; it’s about ensuring we create spaces for people to thrive and this philosophy should extend to the people who work in the sector too.”
Presenting the award was Paul Mitchell, operations director at leading trade association the Scottish Building Federation (SBF). He added, “These awards honour the exceptional women from across the country who are currently working at an operational or site level role in construction. They play an important part in making female role models more visible and accessible to inspire others, and demonstrating that the sector is open to everyone. I was delighted to present Emily with her award, especially as it recognises all her hard work researching and promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity across the construction sector.”
The other two Scottish finalists were Natalie Horsfall and Wendy McFarlane both of whom were also included in Top 100 Influential Women in Construction list.
Natalie is HR manager at specialist fit-out contractor Thomas Johnstone. As part of her role, she says she is pleased to have put in place numerous positive changes to create a culture of inclusion.
Wendy McFarlane is finance director and chair of diversity and inclusion network at Bellshill-based CPI Mortars Ltd. She came to the industry having spent her earlier career in senior finance roles in both professional services and food manufacturing.
The Awards Ceremony was hosted by National Federation of Builders, and CEO Richard Beresford, said, “It was a privilege to attend the Top 100 Most Influential Awards event and celebrate the outstanding women and allies that have gone above and beyond this year. It is testament to the positive changes taking place in the industry and we must build on its success and continue to empower and support our women in construction.”
