Dungiven contracts manager awarded most inspirational woman in construction accolade

A Dungiven woman who was awarded for her extraordinary contributions to the construction industry says the award is a reminder that diversity and inclusion are essential to driving progress and innovation in the industry. 

Karen Brenchley was awarded the distinguished 'Inspirational Woman in Construction' award at a glitzy awards ceremony held in the Europa Hotel in Belfast recently.

The awards were organised by Local Women magazine.

The mum-of-four, who works as a contracts manager for Derry-based Nicor Construction, was delighted when she found out she had been nominated for the prestigious accolade.

Karen, who has led numerous high profile projects over the years, was up against five other people in the same category and was 'shocked' when she found out that she had won.

“I received a phone call one day to say that I had made it through to the finals and I just thought 'well I’m through to the finals and it’ll be a good day out if nothing else'. As we were sitting at the awards ceremony at the Europa a couple of Sundays ago and they called out my name I just couldn’t believe it,” she said.

With a background in architecture and construction, Karen admits that she decided to move into social housing work as she wanted to do her bit to help address the housing crisis.

“I was standing on a building site talking to a builder one day and I was looking around seeing these big signature buildings like the Titanic Centre yet when I was walking through Belfast city centre I was seeing homelessness all around me,” she said.

“I looked into it and was actually thinking what can I do to help. That’s how I got into the social housing work and I see it as my wee bit that I am doing to help.”

Despite working in an industry that is typically male-dominated, Karen says she has had a positive experience so far and hopes she can empower more women to enter a career in construction.

“I’m lucky with Nicor because I have had nothing but the full support from everyone, from the supervisors and contractors to the men on the ground,” she said.

“There are times you are sitting in a room at a meeting and you’re the only woman sitting there and they are all talking about the football though. I also remember being out on a site one day with a supervisor and the woman in the house asked him 'is that your PA?' He had to to tell her I was his boss. People sometimes are taken aback when they see this small blonde woman walking about the place but from Nicor’s point of view I’ve been free to make my own decisions and it’s been great.”

Karen has advice for any other women out there thinking of a career in the construction industry.

“ I remember hearing from a careers teacher in school many years ago that that’s not the industry you want to go into. For me it was the creative side of it, the design part of it that I really loved and now from the flip side it’s about helping out with the housing crisis that we have. We are just doing our bit now to make sure that everyone that is entitled to a house is in a house, that it’s well maintained and it’s for living in because we certainly do believe that everyone is entitled to safe accommodation,” she said.

“The advice I would give any women out there is to find something that you are good at and stick with it. Construction just isn’t about going out and building houses and being able to do the likes of the joinery work. From my point of view it’s about organisational skills, which a lot of women do have, it’s about the attention to detail that you can really make a career out of. It’s also about good communication skills and I think she should never be put off by what other people tell you.

“I am noticing a lot more women coming through in the ranks of this industry and taking up a lot more senior positions and they are pretty successful as they do have such good attention to detail. It is a hard industry. I have four kids at home that are still quite young and I think for the first couple of years it was very hard trying to juggle childcare. There’s days in here too where maybe the school rings because one of them is sick but I am glad I am working for a company like Nicor that is so supportive.” 

Karen added: “I would like to note my gratitude to the Local Women's award board for recognising the contributions of women in construction and that it's more than just an acknowledgement of my work, it's a celebration and inspiration to every woman who has fought to make her mark in this industry. It's also a reminder that diversity and inclusion are essential to driving progress and innovation in the industry.”