For International Women's Day 2021, four women leading a major regeneration scheme in Brent Cross have spoken about their career path into the construction industry.

Karen Mercer, Sam Wadsworth, Isa Ribeiro and Angela Latty are all in senior positions on the Brent Cross Cricklewood (BCC) regeneration project to build Brent Cross Town, a new park town with 6,7000 new homes in north London, and Brent Cross West station.

The overall programme director, Karen Mercer, said: "I’ve never felt that being a woman has held me back, and my advice to any young women starting their careers today would be just go for it, don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, because if you believe in yourself, you can do it.”

Programme director for Brent Cross West at Mace Group, Sam said: "I’ve been managing projects in the rail industry since I was 26 and in the early days I’d often be the only female on the site.

“Today that has changed, with more women working in the rail industry, and local authorities such as Barnet Council are particularly good at promoting females to senior positions."

Isa was previously captain of Portugal’s international rugby side and has played at five European Championships as a scrum-half.

Now Brent Cross Town project manager for Galldris, she said: "It’s often something they’ve never considered before, but you can’t just hope women will want to go to university and study civil engineering.

"Life as a woman in construction has definitely changed since I’ve been in London. People’s reaction to having a female project manager is completely different for example, and that’s only a good thing.

"The whole world is changing for the better in that way.”

BCC regeneration manager Angela was one of the first people to join the team working on the project more than a decade ago.

“In my time it has gone from being an idea, to being drawings, to things being built and opening," she said.

A 2018 study by HR consulting firm Randstad found more than half of females in construction said that they never had a female manager (52 per cent). However, that fell to 36pc in 2019.

Additionally, 29pc of respondents attributed a lack of female role models in the field from preventing women seeking their first roles in construction.

Women interested in job opportunities with the Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration project should contact Cali Ibrahim on skills@barnet.gov.uk