Constructive women

A big hand for the drama queens!

2011-12-13T08:22:00.000Z

Dame Helen Mirren with co-host Rosario Dawson at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo

I promised a follow-up on my first report on the recent CIC Diversity Panel Seminar looking at how to increase the number of women on company boards. Entitled Constructive Women (nice title!!) and led by the redoubtable duo of structural engineer Jane Wernick and architect Angela Brady, current President of the RIBA, the event included a workshop facilitated by a 'thought leader in executive and top talent development.'

It quickly became apparent that this thought leader was not going to attract many followers. The audience restiveness quickly began with her remarks dismissing women non-executives directors as the “usual ten individuals who do very little except drink champagne”, followed by the suggestion to move on from promoting gender diversity – old hat and counter-productive apparently. However tension came to the boil with her advice that women aspiring to get on the board should not behave like ‘drama queens.’

Delegate after delegate rose to express their anger at both the arguments and the tone of voice. But as one organizer gamely commented, “How refreshing to get a real debate, rather than a chorus of consensus.” Relative calm was restored and a number of practical actions were discussed in small groups. Congratulations to Jane and Angela for driving the agenda.

The phrase ‘drama queens’ came back loud and clear this week, however, in a decidedly positive way. Hosting the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway on Sunday 10 December, Dame Helen Mirren saw an opportunity and seized it. She combined her admiration and congratulation for the three women winners with the comment that it is shameful that only 12 women have won the Nobel Peace Prize in 112 years.

Three extraordinary women, changing the world.

The three women honoured for their work are Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian women's rights activist Leymah Gbowee, and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman, from Yemen. Commenting how important women historically have always been, specifically in terms of peace, Dame Helen described them as the role models for young women, adding, ''It is only a step on a journey that women are taking, and hopefully in 20-30 years' time we will be looking at a very different scenario in the world.”

Meryl Streep - Vogue's oldest cover girl

Two days later and the extraordinary actress Meryl Streep is talking on Radio 4 about her latest role as Margaret Thatcher, in The Iron Lady. Filming began with her portraying Thatcher's early days in Parliament as Education Secretary, and Streep describes the sensation of walking into Parliament as a woman at that time as walking into a bath of fire. She goes on to say how she began to appreciate what it takes to be a leader, “what it takes to stand up to that level of distain, hatred and contempt every day, unrelentingly, and then get things done.”

Later in the interview, Streep talks about her support for the construction of a National Women's History Museum, in Washington DC, a proposal that is taking Congress for ever to endorse, despite the fact that it is being entirely privately funded. She has just given her salary from The Iron Lady to the cause and recently gathered a crowd of ground breakers for a photo opportunity. Amongst them was Madeline Albright, (the first woman Secretary of State in the US) who told her that she didn’t agree wih any of Margaret Thatcher’s policies, but “she was the only one who stood up with us in Bosnia and I’ll never forget it. I know what it’s like to be the first.”

In my first report on the CIC Diversity Panel seminar, I make the point that construction and engineering needed to recognize the influence of women as clients – ie the providers of business and revenue. Streep makes a similar point. Asked whether things are getting better for older actresses, she says that it is, commenting that there are more women in “the decision-making echelons of our business, the financial end who are in a position to green light pictures. We have infiltrated the enemy ranks!”

So if behaving like a drama queen means using position, authority and articulacy to make change for other women, I am all for it. As Dame Helen says, ''In my personal experience, wherever there was a force for the positive, for creativity, it was almost always led by women and they are doing it with no recognition and under very difficult circumstances. It is so important for all of us to realise that these movements start in very, very small ways.''

A standing ovation please, or at least three loud cheers for these leading ladies.

Supplementary trivia:

Helen Mirren and I were contemporaries in the same Essex town. She went to St Bernard's Convent, which my mother rejected when we found ourselves just one road out of the catchment area for our first choice of Westcliff High School. "Convent girls tend to go off the rails," she declared, so I cycled four miles each way every day to Southend High School instead.

I turned down a job at Vogue, many years ago when working as a fashion journalist. In those days, the job itself was considered to be sufficient reward and most youung women working there were assumed to have private incomes. It was the economy stupid, (I needed to pay the rent) so I missed my Devil wears Prada moment. Clearly not a sufficiently dedicated follower of fashion, I returned to the field that really excites me, construction and engineering.

Who's that girl/woman/captain of industry......

2011-12-11T21:07:00.000Z

There we were, listening to the head of one of the most successful engineering companies in the world declaring his support for promoting women on to boards. The event was a seminar organised by the Diversity Group of the Construction Industry Council in conjunction with Architects for Change. All rather encouraging, until the moment that reminded me, yet again, that construction and engineering lives in its own strange bubble. Brandishing a recent copy of the Financial Times women in business supplement, he asked the assembled audience if anyone recognized the woman on the cover - before declaring that he himself did not know who she was.

The woman in question was Irene Rosenfeld, Chief Executive of Kraft, who has attracted fury in the UK with her handling of the acquisition of Cadbury last year. Admittedly she doesn’t visit the UK often – in fact refusing to attend a Select Committee inquiry into the take-over in May this year– but even so her face has been splashed over the business pages for weeks. The controversy continues with her recent decision to split Kraft into two companies. And Allan Cooke, Chairman of Atkins, didn’t know her?

It reminded me of the day I put a series of women’s faces on the screen at a workshop at Simons Group, asking the assembled directors and staff if they recognized them. And they didn’t – not even some of the women who held senior roles in companies who gave them business or who were influential in the world of property and retail. This inspired me to set up a mentoring programme with senior women from clients with high potential women from Simons – not only did the individual women benefit, but the profile of all them was raised.

This incident confirms my long held belief that people working in construction and engineering have huge difficulty recognizing not only the women working in their own industry but also in the rest of business world. If the woman who earns more than £11 million a year running a global company is invisible, what hope is there for lesser female mortals in our industry who aspire to get on a board?

More on the CIC Diversity seminar later......

Fanfare for the uncommon man - and woman

2011-11-29T23:36:00.001Z


The award-winning Imperial College Big Band: engineers, scientists and medical students, making music around the world

The other morning, switching from Radio 4 to Radio 3 – a habit usually triggered by the sports reports - I hear a charming interview with a retired civil engineer. He recounts how he decided to learn to play a musical instrument at the same time as embarking on his degree course and in a relatively short space of time became sufficiently proficient to play with the university orchestra. He then discovered that as his career took him to projects around the country and then further afield, he could quickly find new friends in new places by joining the local music-making scene. He travelled the world with his trumpet, which seems to have become a universal social passport giving added pleasure to his construction career.

Captivating - Heatherwick Studio's giant dandelion housing the British Pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 Expo

A few days later I am in the Great Hall of the Royal Institute of British Architects to hear the Annual Lecture delivered by the designer Thomas Heatherwick who creates extraordinary structures such as the Seed Cathedral for the British pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 Expo. The range and creativity of his work, from handbags to monumental sculpture, from glass bridges to the new Routemaster bus, has led to him being labeled a modern Renaissance man. At dinner afterwards, I am seated next to Heatherwick senior, who was a music teacher for many years and tells me that his son Thomas was a more than competent musician – playing the trumpet.

Last Friday evening is spent just a few minutes from home, in St Johns Smith Square, the wonderful Baroque church built for Queen Anne in 1728 and which has become one of London’s favourite concert halls. The players of the resident London Chamber Orchestra not only make music of wonderful quality but also deliver it with such a joie de vivre that their concerts sell out fast. Conducted by the exuberant Christopher Warren-Green, tonight’s attraction is the outstanding trumpeter Alison Balsom, who started her career with the LCO and has become an international star.

Alison Balsom, taking the classical trumpet to new heights and new audiences

As the glorious golden notes of the trumpet soar upwards, I think of the recurring theme of this joyous instrument and the power it evokes. From tumbling those walls of Jericho to helping an engineer finding new friends far from home, from a designer challenging the norm in buildings to a young woman triumphing in a world dominated so long by male giants such as Crispian Steele-Perkins and Håkan Hardenberger.

Above all, trumpet music lifts the spirits. As the Reverend Sydney Smith, the great 18th-century wit and raconteur, is said to have declared, his idea of heaven was 'eating paté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.'

Towering genius

2011-09-29T20:46:00.000+01:00

Coffee time in San Giuliano Termi

Back in Tuscany a year after the visit that laid me low (see Discovering a dynamic Duchess) and we are catching up with lost opportunities. So on a hot and sunny Saturday we decide to go to the place that any engineer and self-respecting lover of fine buildings must go when in northern Tuscany. We are off to Pisa, the place where an extraordinary structure has defied expectation and gravity to remain vertical (but not perpendicular) for more than 800 years.

We take the scenic route via San Giuliano Termi rather than the autostrada. This turns out to be a treat. San Guiliano Termi is a charming sun-kissed, tree-filled place high in the hills above Pisa, with that particular air of elegance and calm that typifies spa towns from Leamington to Vichy, Cheltenham to Baden Baden. The little square has a view of the ornate facade of the main spa, and a traditional bar serving excellent coffee and light, sweet pastries.

Cool marble and golden roof


The magnificent bronze doors of the Duomo

On the road again, and as the temperature rises to 33 degrees we twist and turn steeply down to the plain of the Arno. By good fortune we find a parking space just a short walk from a gateway through Pisa's high and ancient walls. By even greater fortune, the gate turns out to be the closest point of entry for the area known, quite rightly, as the Campo dei Miracoli (the Field of Miracles).

The Duomo, a glorious cathedral filled with light and space. The Baptistry with its magical acoustic, the Cemetery with its simple windowless walls stretching the length of the square.

The tower bows to the Duomo

The Leaning Tower is there, in all its breathless, idiosyncratic splendour, amongst a group of extraordinary buildings which rise in cool, confident beauty above the souvenir shops, tourists jostling for the perfect photograph, students clutching MacDonalds bags and squawking into mobile phones. And how heartening to know that it is a calm, self-effacing, British engineer who has succeeded in stabilising the tower, which has been challenging great minds since beginning to lean shortly after construction began in 1173.

Professor John Burland, of Imperial College London, was the man who convinced a multi-disciplinary committee, set up by the Italian Prime Minister in 1990, that soil extraction was the solution. (The only other non-Italian on the 14 strong committee was an American who died of a heart attack in 1996, believed to have been largely caused by the stress of the Pisa challenge.)

The need to resolve the situation became acute in 1995 when despite various attempts, including tensioned cables and lead weights, did not prevent the lean becoming a lurch and the world thought that the tower was on the brink of collapse.

Similar to microsurgery, Professor Burland's proposal entailed drilling out slivers of soil, using using delicate, Archimedes-screw drills from beneath the northern side of the tower - away from the lean - and allowing gravity to coax the structure upright. It had the advantage of not touching the tower itself, thus keeping art historians happy.

Even when the Burland proposal was adopted, it was not until 1999 that work began. Twice a day, for the next two years, details of the movement of the tower and the surrounding earth were sent to Professor Burland, wherever he happened to be in the world, for him to calculate how much soil was to be removed over the next 12 hour period. In total 70 tonnes were removed and in 2001, to joy and relief of all, the Leaning Tower was not only re-opened to the public after ten years, but was also declared stable for at least the next 300 years.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Professor Burland then set about identifying why the tower was leaning and discovered that there was significant difference in the water table between the ground to the north and to the south. This provided the information necessary to manage and drain the soil appropriately to create a more stable foundation. A miracle of engineering to save a wonder of the world.

All photographs by Sandi

Sugar and spice and all things nice?

2011-06-17T12:17:00.005+01:00

There I was at the 5th anniversary celebration of Women2Win, hearing how many women in banking, law and finance are being encouraged and supported to become Conservative MPs. The debate was brought to a close before I could leap to my feet to highlight the omission of women in engineering and construction from the pool of professional potential. However, I was able to have a chat with the guest speaker, Home Secretary the Rt Honourable Theresa May MP, who was quick to agree and enthusiastically recalled engineer Michelle McDowell's success in winning Veuve Cliquot Businesswoman of the Year just a few weeks earlier.

Little did I know that whilst we were discussing the skills of women engineers in politics and enterprise, Lord Sugar was firing aspiring apprentice Glen Ward, telling him (and 7m television viewers), “I have never yet come across an engineer who can turn his hands to business.”

The outcry over this astonishingly crass statement was immediate, with example after example of successful engineers flooding the internet. But unrepentant Lord Sugar simply dismisses them out of hand, for example describing James Dyson as an inventor and declaring that he doubted whether Bill Gates would describe himself as an engineer. All this from a man who progressed from running a market stall to making computers before focusing on property development to build his wealth. But remind me, what did happen to Amstrad – or is that his point?

On an upbeat note, Halcrow principal engineer Julie Hunt was one of several women engineers quoted by New Civil Engineer magazine this week. She said: “Lord Sugar’s comment on prime time TV could do considerable damage to the profile of engineering professions.

“However, as they say, there is no such thing a bad publicity − so let’s make the most of it, as did Wales after Anne Robinson’s outburst.”

Well said Julie. Move over sweetness and let's spread a little light.

Photograph of Lord Sugar from The Sun newspaper.

Pulling up the drawbridge - or the Queen Bee syndrome

2011-03-10T10:48:00.003Z

In the past week we have heard three women at the top giving their reasons for rejecting quotas as a way of getting more women up there alongside them. Firstly Christina Odone in The Telegraph recounted in hushed, respectful tones about how carefully she prepared for her recent board meeting - no bright colours, sensible heels etc etc - and comfort of knowing that she was there purely on her merits. She would feel so undermined, she went on, if there was any suggestion that she had been appointed simply as part of a quota.

Lucy Kellaway took up the issue in the Financial Times, in her characteristic mix of airiness and acidity, recounting what fun it was to be a non exec director, especially as there was a fellow woman on the board to enjoy chats with in the loo. But she doesn't feel that companies should employ 'vaguely plausible' women non execs just to fill a quota and support the development of women in the organisation.

Then Helen Alexander of the CBI debated strongly against the quota proposals - again on the basis of merit - at a debate to launch this year's First Women Awards.

Why do these women fall into the trap - as do many men- of assuming that a quota system will simply result in the appointment of inadequate women? Do they really believe that being forced to find women will fail to identify any good ones?

It is difficult to resist the thought that those women who have cracked the system and reached board level (whether through merit, connections or simply a profile gained from writing amusing articles in a national newspaper) are quite happy to sustain this exclusive enclave.

It was reassuring not to be alone with my misgivings. My letter in response to Lucy Kellaway was published in the FT on Wednesday 2 March, along with two others critical of her stance. As Sarah Bond, of KPMG commented in her response, "There is nothing more profoundly disappointing than hearing a senior woman arguing that gender equality is not an issue, and little that lets boards off the hook quite so effectively. "

The text of the letters can be found at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f9d0d8da-4451-11e0-931d-00144feab49a.html#axzz1GC3UfVw7

Picture: Vincent van Gogh, Drawbridge with a Lady with a Parasol

The great Trans American train journey

2010-11-12T11:30:00.032Z

A 5,000 mile, ten state, 4 day journey from Salt Lake City to Washington DC.

An unexpected visit to Salt Lake City results in an interesting challenge: how to travel to Washington DC without taking to the air and with the opportunity for gentle exercise. The conclusion was to take the train. The first leg will be 37 hours, from for Salt Lake City to Chicago, via the California Zephyr. Then an overnight stay in Chicago, leaving the next evening for the 17 hour journey from Chicago to Washington DC, via the Capitol Line. We book tickets and superliner sleeper cabins, viewing the trip not as a reluctant alternative to air travel, but as a great opportunity to see the country from (almost) coast to coast.

The journey (day 1)

Wednesday 3 November

Leaving Salt Lake City, Utah

The hotel bill is settled, bags are packed and reliable and kindly Jimmy the taxi driver arrives at 3.30am and we are good to go. The train eases majestically out of Salt Lake City at 04.10 am andwe travel up into the mountains, temperature dropping and ears popping. Wake at one halt to see snow around us, but can't see, only feel, the Gilluly loops, a series of switchbacks on the line which in early days of the railroad required helper trains to push the locomotives. Not a very comfortable start, and it is strange getting into bed right away on a train with all the clanking and creaking. But Bob the cabin steward is proving a star, bringing us breakfast to the cabin, then putting up the bunks and stowing our kit.

The scenery is quite extraordinary. As we move further from Salt Lake City, the incredibly barren rocks and strange rectangular peaks with extraordinary profiles in ochre, brown and pink soften and become greener. See a desert hare bounding across the boulders and a large bird (eagle I think) soaring over a small water pool, then a deer. What guts and determination to cut a railroad through this wilderness.

As the train gets closer to Grand Junction, Colorado, there are more and more signs of civilisation. Firstly a road, then pick-up trucks and mining depots of some sort, then a car, then a shack. The scrubby bush clinging to the serrated rocks gives way to lusher growth and trees glowing brilliant golden yellow in the morning sun.

Grand Junction, Colorado

Our first significant town. And the train sounds its hooter just like in the films and the tumbleweed is lying like rolls of barbed wire along the trackside."You folks take vantage of our half hour stop and get some fresh air," says the intercom. We go down the stairs from the second level and step out into the sunshine. An elderly Amish Gentleman with long snowy beard and black hat walks past us down the platform, with his neat little wife in a white bonnet. Followed by Biker Guy in denim and leather, triple earrings, nose studs and chains, with a Mildly Goth girlfriend.

"There's a great little store just along the platform," says Bob and sure 'nuff there is, so I pick up a couple of fun things for the grandchildren and a piece of petrified wood and take some photographs. "When we get to Denver, I'll get y'all pizza," says Bob to some of us from coach 32, enjoying a last stretch before climbing aboard and starting the next leg. Discovery of the morning is that we can 'tether' our laptop computers to the 3G signal on our iphone in order to send and receive emails.

Leaving Grand Junction

The scenery changes. Still the towering peaks, some capped with snow, and in the distance, the soft blue bulk of the Grand Mesa, one of the world's largest flat top mountains. Closer to hand, lines of vines glowing purple and vigorous peach trees in neat serried rows. Horses graze in paddocks, (and mustangs on the plains apparently), cattle are in the meadows and houses have white picket fences. On our right, flows the Grand River.

Further out of town, various mining and excavation sites appear, pick-up trucks bustle busily and large, beautiful, shiny American trucks cruise the highways - didn't see Dennis Weaver yet nor his scary invisible counterpart from Duel. We pass through New Castle, named after Newcastle UK, with its mines yielding high levels of soft coal and methane. Worryingly, explosions over the years have resulted in a fire that still burns - allegedly not harmful to the community but contributing significantly to world carbon dioxide emissions.

Glenwood Springs

Here the wealth generated by recreation rather than agriculture or industry is apparent. Six world class ski resorts, white water rafting, cycling - and the station is smart red brick picture postcard, signs to attractive hotels, the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers looking as if it has been designer landscaped - and no sign of tumbleweed. But the most significant thing about Glenwood Springs is that it is where Doc Holliday spent the last few months of his life, after sorting out the Gunfight at the OK Corral. After a two minute stop to pick up a couple more passengers, the California Zephyr sets off again, with the conductor announcing that lunch is being served.

Cary Grant is not in evidence in the dining car, sadly, and we are shown to a table occupied by the Mildly Goth young woman seen on the platform at Grand Junction. Her place of origin, Brooklyn, is proudly tattooed on her left shoulder. Around her neck on a tight chain is a bronze spanner. Her black hair shimmers with purple and maroon highlights and around her hips is a belt composed of bottletops. Within a few minutes we are engaged in good conversation. She is a metal sculptor and jewellery maker - the second I have met this year. As petite as Elsa highly regarded sculptor I met in Cape Town in February, and as passionate. "I just love the smell of hot metal," said Evelyn. She boarded the train in San Francisco with her boyfriend, also a sculptor who hates flying (and who I now rename to Heavy Metal), and is on her way to New York to visit her father and friends.

Lunch is a tasty meal of spicy beef stew, white and wild rice and a small salad on the side, served by smiling uniformed staff with proper cutlery and glassware. "See you later for dinner, "said Jasmine the pretty waitress as we move forward to the observation car with the glass roof to watch the wonderful views rolling past, the sheer crags of the canyon on our left and on our right the green waters of the Colorado River edged with the glowing red stems of dogwood trees, golden rushes and deep dusty green of pine trees and the occasional settlement of houses.

Great excitement as we see three eagles fishing in the river. Shortly after, human fishermen in twin hulled inflatables come into view. The conductor announces that there will be three real good canyons coming up before we get to Granby. When I first heard this announcement, I thought the conductor said 'Brandy' – must have been the effect of spending ten days in the dry State of Utah.

The train emerges from the sheer Gore canyon, where we see intrepid kayakers braving rapids that are supposed to be some of the fiercest in the US - and soberingly an empty canoe wedged between boulders in a raging torrent. Then the green river stops hurling itself into white fury over banded granite rocks and slows its pace, meandering through sunlit meadows and rolling open plains. Golden ziggurats of hay bales (no blue plastic here), black cattle grazing contentedly on a beneficent head per acre ratio. Ducks pootle around in weedy backwaters, shacks and trailers appear, huge Dutch barns, fresh timber farmhouses, Wichita linesman power poles. And still in the distance snow covered peaks of majestic mountains. The train sounds its Chattanooga Choo Choo horn.

Granby, Colorado

Granby is a small town, very neat with municipal playground and several little lakes. A two minute stop here, with one person boarding and nobody getting off. The train starts climbing, and snow is no longer a distant frosting on mountains but is clustered thick alongside the tracks and in shady parts of the meadows. The river has changed from agate green to almost black. The dusty sage green brush and skeletal trees have now become a mix of dark green pine and lighter aspen. Above us, the sun occasionally illuminates the granite rocks into warm gold blushed with rose. Then the canyon closes in, rocky cliff just feet from the window on one side, the river and tree sprinkled scrub on the other. More snow, with occasional shafts of sun softening the gloomy rock to velvet.

Stop for a five minute break in Fraser, known as the Icebox of America where temperatures can drop to minus 50, and the home of the Winter Park ski resort. Then back on board to make the most of cellphone reception before going into the Moffat Tunnel, one of the longest railway tunnels in the world. It is 6.2 miles long, and rises to 9,250 ft.

The Moffatt Tunnel was built in 1928, cutting the distance between Denver and the Pacific coast by 176 miles and reducing the train time by six hours, cutting out the switchback tracks over the Rollins Pass - treacherous in the winter. The conductor tells us all not to move between the cars of the train whilst we pass through the tunnel (10 - 12 minutes) to avoid allowing diesel fumes inside. Decided to focus on writing this and manage not to succumb to claustrophobia.

Into the woods

The pines grow tall and dense, cloaking the steep valleys in deep green. The rock here has changed, it is pinkish granite, jagged and fissured. We switch back and forth over the Fraser River, Then the river swirls away from us forming oxbow bends around glowing buttresses of rock, all softened with trees. We spot a dam creating the Gross reservoir that provides Denver with its water. Not a very big one, but nevertheless reminiscent of vivid scenes from Chinatown and The Fugitive.

Then the train passes through 28 tunnels as it begins the descent towards Denver. Down and down, the snow disappears and suddenly we are looking over a vast plain, stretching flat and smooth as far as the eye can see. We are still so high that we are looking down on Denver, the mile high city. Wind turbines slowly turn, cattle graze, large areas of placid water reflect the sky, the landscape is covered in tussocky grass dried to creamy caramel by the summer sun. Pretty grey deer with white markings and absurdly long eyelashes stare calmly as we pass.

Denver, Colorado

Down, down, down and then we are trundling past housing estates, commercial areas, industrial depots, trailer parks, highway intersections. The conductor announces that the train will be backing into a siding and re-orientating before getting into Denver Station and all passengers should stay in their seats until this operation is concluded. Eventually the California Zephyr sidles into its allotted platform. This is an hour long stop, for taking on water, ice, fresh food and a fair number of new passengers. Someone works down the train washing the windows.

We decide to stretch our legs and walk down the platform to the station hall, which is a typical American marble, echoing, high ceilinged art deco hymn to the iron horse. The high backed maple seats fill the space like pews in a church. More cinematic resonance, but no sign of Kelly McGinnis in Amish bonnet sitting demurely with her son (Witness) - let alone dodgy gunmen, thank goodness.

Dinner in the dining car, where we are greeted by Evelyn the Mild Goth and her Heavy Metal boyfriend and the woman from San Francisco with friends in Beverley in Yorkshire to whom I chatted on the platform at Grand Junction. A couple who boarded in Denver also engage us in conversation. He is a geology professor who has been attending a conference in Denver - the second geology professor I have met this week. The first was a fellow guest of Frank Joklik, Honorary British Consul in Salt Lake City and his wife Pam, who felt that an evening listening to the Utah Symphony play Beethoven and Shostakovic was just what I would enjoy - they were right.

We return to the cabin for a game of Scrabble. Bob knocks on the cabin door to find out when we would like him to set up our bunks and tuck us in - reminding us that there is a time change when we cross another state line in the small hours.

The journey (day 2)

Thursday 4 November

Limbo

Just before we turn in, we hear that the detour we were told about by telephone just before leaving Salt Lake City is not going to make a quicker journey after all, but might delay us by four hours! Vindicates our early decision to stay a night in Chicago rather than risk a stressful missed connection for the Washington leg of the journey. The silver lining however is that it might be a smoother ride, as we will be avoiding much of particularly poor Iowa track. So we will be heading up north and then going east once we leave Omaha, the next major stopping point.

Wake in the small hours conscious of silence. The train is at rest somewhere, but no indication of where. No station signs, no sign of life. Then a moving light appears and a chap with a miner's light helmet carrying a long hose fills the train with something - presumably water. I think we must be in Omaha and reset my telephone to Nebraska time. After an hour, the train eases forward and then picks up speed.

Omaha, Nebraska

Then at 5.00 we really do get to Omaha (discover later that the earlier stop was Lincoln) where we wait in the darkness for an hour whilst people embark and disembark - including those poor souls who will have to take a bus to the destinations they should have reached if the train had not been re-routed. Wonder if Warren Buffet is awake too, figuring out his next clever move. Probably not.

Decide to get up at 7.30 (or 6.30 in Utah time) to get my recently broken right wrist and arm moving and to find out what's going on. Find that our cabin door is stuck. We had had a problem earlier when the privacy curtain rail - a heavy chunk of steel - inexplicably crashed down narrowly missing me on the first morning. Declined a move to the next car then, on the basis that we had invested in Bob, who was doing a great job looking after us and didn't want to start a relationship with another cabin steward. So he had McGivered a folded sheet with duck tape to create a privacy curtain on the corridor window. But a stuck door (which we all agree is related to the earlier mechanical failure) is a more difficult issue. Retreat to the dining car for breakfast, leaving Bob to find ways of resolving it.

The sky turns a rosy glow as the sun rises and I am joined at the breakfast table by Dale, a retired air force chap who is travelling with his wife (still asleep, lucky woman) to visit their daughter near Chicago. He has fond memories of being stationed at Edinburgh in the 60s, returning with his wife and daughters 20 years later to watch the Tattoo. Five minutes later learn that Bob has admitted defeat with the door and is moving all our belongings for us into a cabin two along - which is far more spacious. Another silver lining!

After coffee and freshly scrambled eggs, we move forward to the observation car. The scenery is a great contrast to yesterday's grandeur. This is the flat, rolling Nebraska bread basket land of wheat and corn fields stretching for miles. Pretty little homes sparkling in the crisp sunshine, field after field of stubble, corn stalks and mown hay. A wind farm hoves into view, an array of a dozen turbines turning slowly against a clear pale blue sky. Then a little further down the track, an even bigger array, then a cement works followed by the first of many huge grain silos. These are the highest visual markers in the landscape, quite a change from the looming majestic mountains of the day before.

Boone, not Burlington, Iowa

After an encouragingly spanking pace through this tranquil countryside, the train slows to a stop. Eventually it starts again but never exceeds walking pace. Stuck behind a slow moving freight train we crawl towards a town called Boone. Realise our part of the observation car has become a magnet for trainspotters and retired railroad engineers, drawn by a railroad worker who has been displaying his knowledge of the re-route, loudly, to all and sundry. Decide that the collective noun for train enthusiasts is a junction.

Much discussion about which bridge replacement is causing the detour, the bloodymindedness of the Iowa train crews, the unreasonable stranglehold of freight companies and the distinguishing features of various locomotives. The reason for the re-routing becomes clearer. The rail bridge at Burlington (which is being re-built) has been closed because of damage to one of its spans, so we are being re-routed via the new rail bridge over the Des Moines River at Boone.

I then overhear mention of the Kate Shelley bridge, which is the original rail bridge at Boone and one of the highest double track rail bridges in the USA. Completed in 1901, it is named in honour of Kate Shelley, who as a 15 year-old in 1881 alerted Chicago and North Western Railroad officials to a bridge collapse in time to stop a passenger train from crossing the damaged structure.

Then one of the train enthusiasts decides to plot the route as if travelling by car, switching on his Tom Tom and regaling us all with instructions to turn left at the crossroads and the news that if we were driving we'd be in Chicago real soon. Decide to retreat back to the cabin.

We continue our genteel pace and eventually make our way over the water. Apparently some time soon, two trains at a time will be able to hurtle across these bridges at 70 miles an hour, but until then, only one train can cross, at 25 miles per hour.

Big skies, far horizons

I adjust to the tranquil landscape, rolling for miles, which begins to change as the clear skies are filled with vast, billowing clouds of white and dove grey that hover over the close cropped cornfields like duvets fallen on to a bedroom carpet. Reminds me of summers in Brittany or East Anglia. Trundle through a pretty little town, full of the archetypal wooden houses, each with its stoop, the tall pointy grain barns and a pretty church of decorative red brick with crisp white detailing. The town is called Norway, prettier both in name and style than the next one - Mechanicsville.

Latest update on arrival in Chicago looks a little cheerier. The pilot (needed to get us over the bridge over the Mississipi) seems to think once we are across, it will take two hours to reach the Windy City. Which means that we are only one and a half hours behind schedule. But yet again, the train is crawling through a vast industrial site, surrounded by freight trains, then emerging into a suburban area where we stop for a long time. It seems that when it comes to railways, freight is king and nobody cares a toss about fare paying passengers. Or alternatively, Amtrack won't pay the fee to get precedence over the river. A revised arrival time gives a four hour delay. No wonder so many American friends thought we were mad to choose this form of transport. Decide against lunch in the dining car - conscious of little real exercise over the past two weeks.

Then at last, and for no apparent reason, the train moves forward to cross the muddy, sluggish waters of the mighty Mississippi and a series of its tributaries. The bridge is a single track rail bridge made of ageing Meccano. There is a new one currently under construction just a few yards away. May it progress rapidly. The train picks up speed and we head for Chicago, the clouds getting fatter and already dropping rain to the west. Last lap - looking forward to a shower bigger than a sports locker and a stationary bed.

Chicago, Illinois

As the train waits on the western approaches to Chicago Union Railway Station, the tension amongst passengers anxious to make onward connections rises higher. The train is now nearly three hours late, albeit better than the worse case scenario of four hours delay predicted by the conductor, but scant comfort to those trying to get beyond Chicago on trains that only run three times a week. Like the Amish Gentleman we had seen at the beginning of the trip, travelling with his neat bonneted wife, muscular ginger bearded son and teenage grandson with collarless grey shirt, black waistcoat and pudding basin haircut. Amish Gentleman is near us by the luggage hold when Bob cheerily announces that the train will arrive in time to catch the connection to Cincinnati. He beams from ear to ear, does a little jig with his hands in the air and cries "whoopee, whoopee" before skipping off to spread the news to his family.

The pilot arrives to guide the train into the correct platform - an interesting concept - and we finally arrive in Chicago. The redoubtable Bob organises us a Red Cap driver, who establishes us on her golf cart, ejects the vast luggage put in there by a traditionally built couple who are not on her list, replaces it with ours and then hurtles down the interminable platform, within inches of the edge, hooting at pedestrians all the way. Are we pleased with this service! More than compensates for my momentary disappointment that the Chicago Station is not the palace of a structure with its sweeping marble staircase immortalised by Kevin Costner, the tumbling perambulator and the mafiosi in The Untouchables.

Friends are waiting at the barrier to greet us. They embrace us warmly, seize our luggage, bundle us into two taxis and whisked us through torrential rain to the our hotel. After a good hot shower, we celebrate the two thirds stage of our journey with good food and drink. Then a wonderful night's sleep in large, non-moving beds.

The journey (day 3)

Friday 5 November

City delights

Determined to make the most of a day in Chicago, I take my long wished for Architectural Foundation riverboat trip to see the wondrous buildings of the Windy City. I walk two blocks to cross the Chicago River via the impressive Michigan Avenue double decked bascule bridge, restored to its original ornate, balustraded glory in 2009 and renamed the DuSable Bridge just a few weeks earlier to honour Jean Baptiste DuSable, the first non-native settler in Chicago. Stopping to admire the impressive sculptures and memorial plaques, my eye was caught by one honouring the explorers and settlers which was donated by The Illinois Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Constructive Women pop up everywhere!

Then down the steps to the pier to board the Chicago First Lady riverboat for 90 minutes of pure delight for this self-confessed compulsive builder. Manage to keep reasonably warm in the arctic wind, thanks to layering most of my wardrobe under a light waterproof mac with hood. After 40 minutes, to ensure that I stay on the open top deck throughout to hear the informed, entertaining and wonderfully professional docent, I treat myself to a black coffee laced with Courvoisier expertly served by Nick in the well equipped downstairs bar which offers a range of enhanced beverages from Irish Coffee with Baileys to hot chocolate with rum. A must-do trip.

Then spend three hours at the beautiful Beaux Arts building that houses the Art Institute of Chicago. Redoubtable US ladies are in evidence here too, as I climb the 188 marble steps of the Womens' Board Grand Staircase constructed in 1910 that sweeps impressively up to the French Impressionists. However, I sidestep the Europeans and head for the American wonders of Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keefe, Whistler and Singer Sargeant -and of course the magnificent bronzes of Frederic Remington. Then a quick look at the wonderful ballroom created from elements rescued from the Chicago Stock Exchange Building that was disgracefully demolished thirty years ago – style is Pugin on speed. Verdict? I would rather spend a weekend in Chicago than New York.

Back to pack bags for the final leg to Washington and organise a cab to get through an appalling Friday evening traffic jam to the railway station. Here we find more benefits of booking a sleeper. We do not have to stand in the long line that snakes around the barrier, but are whisked off again by a Red Cap, deposited at the correct coach door where the cabin steward Manny welcomes us and stows our bags. A good meal in the dining car, served by entertaining and efficient staff, and return to our cabin to find beds made up and clean towels laid ready. The train is travelling at a good speed, on what seem to be pretty smooth tracks, so fingers crossed for a good night's sleep and a reasonable schedule.

The journey (day 4)

Saturday: 6 November

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Wake in the dark to hear Manny tapping on the next door cabin to say that we are coming into Pittsburgh. I switch on the bright pink bendy book light I bought at Barnes & Noble and check the train schedule. Umm, we have arrived in Pittsburgh at 6.30, instead of 5.05. Let's hope the delay does not get greater. I doze for a little while longer, then decide to get up when they announce breakfast in the dining car. Get dressed and splash my face with water and set off for grapefruit and speciality Railroad French Toast. Then on to the observation car.

The countryside could be English. Steep valleys full of beech, sycamore and maple, their slim bare trunks stretching straight above thick carpets of russet leaves. In the pale grey morning light, the valley looks full of soft smoke, the remaining leaves flickering orange and crimson amongst the branches. The pewter river flows swiftly, breaking into white ruffles around grey granite rocks. Very calm and peaceful. Then a cluster of houses appear and the countryside becomes unmistakeably American. Wooden houses and stoops, mostly painted brown, soft blue or green rather than the crisp white we saw on the plains of Iowa.

A large pale dog sits grinning outside a smoke shack, the thick white clouds billowing up into the chill air. Small boats lie next to pick up trucks. A little further on, a large cluster of houses tumbles down the hillside. Old mining town, says one of the passengers to his neighbour. Right on cue, an interminable line of freight cars appears, filled to the brim with coal. It takes five minutes to pass them - glad the freight wagons are a) stationary and b)not in front of us, or that 90 minute delay could stretch longer.

The river widens in places, sometimes dividing around tumbled rock and shale, sedge and reeds waving drunkenly above the flow. Every now and then a house or two appears amongst the trees that grow down to the bank, one with a children's swing and slide, another with a swinging garden seat sporting a red and white striped sunshade perched rakishly on one side. We pass through a town, with a number of brick houses amongst the clapboard ones, a pretty white and grey church, playground and train sidings. No indication of its name.

Five states to go....

The lovely waitress (who serves with a smile and even a musical ta, ra, ta ra flourish when she is particularly pleased with the quality of the food) is delighted to produce coffee and french toast with syrup. Over breakfast I muse about the towns we passed during the night. Some three hours after leaving Chicago we crossed the state line from Illinois into Indiana, stopping briefly at South Bend to pick up a cluster of people on the platform. The town began as a fur trading post in 1820, the legendary Studebaker company started there as a wagon shop in 1853 and cabinets for Singer sewing machines were manufactured between 1868 and 1954. It was also the place of the last bank robbery carried out by the Dillinger gang.

Around midnight there was a longer stop at Toledo, picking up a couple of passengers and giving a smokers' break on the chilly platform. At some time in the small hours I recall seeing a family waiting perilously close to the train track (seemed to be no platform to speak of). Perhaps it was Elyria, or maybe Alliance and I had slept through the stop at Cleveland.....

The countryside continues pretty well unchanged, and as the only available comfortable swivel seats in the observation car are on the non-view side, we decide to return to our cabin. As Manny has been invisible for the past three hours, I ask another steward to track him down and let him know that we would like the bunks folded back. It seems that we do not need to plead broken wrist to request this, it is part of the first class sleeper service.

As the train switches between Maryland and West Virginia, my ears prick up at the announcement that we are coming to Harpers Ferry. This historic town, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers and where the states of Maryland,Virginia and West Virginia meet, was the scene of the infamous raid by John Brown on the Federal Armoury which was a catalyst for the American Civil War and the scene of many bloody battles during it. Harpers Ferry then became a fashionable resort, with up to 28 trains a day bringing holiday makers and wedding parties, but a combination of the Depression, devastating floods and re-routing of roads caused the town's terminal decline and it now has a population of around 300 people.

It is the last stage of our journey and encouragingly, the delay is not as bad as feared, we are going to be a mere 90 minutes late rather than the two to three hours forecast the previous evening. Amtrak conductors must have a policy of painting a gloomy picture, so that the reality can be cause for celebration. A swift telephone call with the revised arrival information and then we pack away our belongings and await arrival. As the train slows down to trundle sedately through the capital's residential suburbs, Manny calls to collect our cabin bags to put downstairs with our hold luggage. There had been a somewhat heated exchange with him earlier about reserving a specific Red Cap cart service for us, following the successful experience at Chicago. We were not to worry, he said, there are always Red Caps. But we wanted certainty, not vague assurances.

Washington DC

Manny rises to the occasion on arrival into Washington Union Railway Station. Commandeering the first Red Cap cart, he ensures that we are safely installed on it with our suitcases, rucksacks, wicker hamper and 2ft wide firm wedge pillow. We career down the platform, duck down into the basement of the station, cross a set of tracks, wriggle through gaps that look impossibly narrow and then pop up on to the general concourse outside the imposing entrance, just where the car sweeps in to collect us. Fifteen minutes later, we cross the threshold of the apartment with big smiles on our faces - home, safe and sound!

All photographs by Rhys Jones except for:
Kate Shelley Bridge (Wikipedia), Michigan Avenue/ DuSable Bridge Chicago (courtesy Gotheguide.com), Chicago skyline from the river (Chicago Tourist Board)

Discovering a dynamic duchess

2010-09-10T20:27:00.011+01:00

Last week I drove around the great walls that still completely enclose the mediaeval city of Lucca in Tuscany. I was en route from Pisa airport to stay with friends in the mountainous and lush Garfagnana, where the Serchio River runs between the Apuan Alps and the Appennines.

There was no time to linger then, in the late afternoon, but it confirmed a long-held wish to visit Lucca - in fact, ever since my cousin Andrea introduced me, several decades ago, to a relation who lived there. This exotic visitor to my aunt's house in Middlesex was, at 14, only a couple of years older than Andrea and me, but she was clearly rather affronted that neither of us had ever heard of her wonderful home town. My mother, always concerned to find a topic to smooth over awkward social situations, enthusiastically chatted about her new winter coat with its luxurious Lucca lamb collar, which was very much the thing in the late Fifties. (Quite how we were related to this young girl has been lost in time, if in fact I ever knew.)

So in preparation for putting right this gap in my experience, I relaxed on the terrace with a glass of Prosecco and the Michelin Guide to Tuscany and Umbria. This paragraph jumped off the page. 'For a very short period in the early 19th Century, Lucca was a principality and life in the city was dominated by one woman, Elisa Bonaparte. She was crowned Princess of Lucca and Piombino by her brother Napoleon, after his conquest of Italy. From 1805 to 1813, aided by her husband Felix Baciocchi, she ruled decisively and wisely over her principality and showed a remarkable talent for managing affairs.'

Intrigued, I set about finding out more. Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Levoy, Princesse Française, Duchess of Lucca and Princess of Piombino, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Countess of Compignano was definitely a constructive woman. Her enthusiasm for the arts (her Paris salon was a popular spot) was not inhibited on being sent to Lucca - the ‘dwarf republic’, as Napoleon rather dismissively described it. Elisa quickly demonstrated not only patronage but also business acumen and vision, in eight short years bringing about great change.

Shortly after Elisa arrived in Tuscany, Napoleon transferred ownership of the renowned marble quarries of Massa and Carrara from the Kingdom of Italy to Lucca. Elisa immediately established the Académie des Beaux-Arts to host the greatest sculptors and thus make Carrara an exporter of marble statues - which had a greater value than the raw marble. She also set up the Banque Élisienne to give financial aid to sculptors and workers for marble taxes.

The following year, 1807, Elisa established a committee to encourage and finance the invention of new machines and new techniques to increase agricultural production in the territories, including experimental plantations such as those of mulberries at Massa, where a silk school was created in 1808.

Elisa also embarked on a series of construction projects,bolstering Lucca's status as a spa town by her improvement of the architecture and decor of the town's baths. The palace was fully redecorated and the gardens improved, with the creation of a botanical garden with a menagerie and aviary. She also began road construction, notably the "route Friedland" to link Massa and Carrara, and an aqueduct into Lucca.

But some of the works provoked great opposition from the citizens, understandably less than enthusiastic about the foreign occupation of their city. For example, expansion of the princely palaces in Lucca necessitated the demolition of the church of San Pietro and she also razed an entire block to build a piazza in the French style in front of her city residence (now the seat of the province and the prefecture) which seriously affected the city's medieval architecture and almost sparked a revolt. In Massa, she demolished a cathedral.

Elisa was also concerned with the health and education of the inhabitants of her territories. She demolished Piombino's hospital to build a new one in the former monastery of San Anastasia and set up the Casa Sanitaria, a dispensary in the town's port. She instituted free medical consultations for the poor to help eradicate the diseases then ravaging Lucca's population.

Elisa set up a number of schools, including the first secondary school for boys in the principality. For girls, she began by establishing set curricula for convents that also operated as schools, then set up a body of "dames d'inspection" to verify that these curricula were applied. Teaching of girls aged between five and eight years old was made compulsory, though the laws were not always well applied. She founded the Institut Élisa for noble-born girls, to produce ‘well-educated and cultivated future wives’. Three years later, in 1812, Élisa set up an establishment for young poor girls, the Congregazione San Felice, though this did not long outlive Élisa's fall.

As fall she did. In her role as Grand Duchess of Tuscany, she did not have the autonomy that she enjoyed as Duchess of Lucca and frequently clashed with her brother Napoleon over implementation of his edicts. However she did not rebel as forcefully as her brother-in-law Joachim Murat, King of Naples (married to her sister Caroline). Murat supported the rights of his subjects over loyalty to Napoleon and joined the enemy Anglo/Austrian forces, which overran Tuscany and the principality of Lucca.

The pregnant Elisa was forced to abdicate and flee the country, moving from place to place in France and Austria, suffering imprisonment after Napoleon’s exile to Elba but eventually succeeding in her wish to return to Italy. Showing that she had lost none of her energy, she acquired a country house near Trieste and began financing archaeological digs in the region. In June 1820 she contracted a fatal illness, probably on an excavation site, and died two months later aged 43. She was buried in Bologna.

As for my stay in Tuscany, I too suffered a fall, but in a more literal sense than Elisa. A wet bathroom floor resulted in a broken arm, curtailing excursions to Lucca. But I shall return next year to visit the place where a determined woman left such a mark.

Artistic footnotes

The availability of fresh plaster inspired this portable fresco of our view of the Garfagnana and its villages by husband Roderick.

Photograph of Lucca by was by Hosseman, courtesy Wikipedia.

The portrait of Elisa was painted in 1805, the year she became Duchess of Lucca, by Marie-Guillemine Benoist who was one of that rare breed, a successful woman artist. More about her in my next story.

Hitting the right note

2010-08-16T15:04:00.010+01:00

It’s Proms season again, that extraordinary eight weeks of glorious classical music, old favourites, challenging new works and exuberant audiences. With tickets starting at a fiver and the entire programme transmitted live on BBC radio and television, it is a mystery that anyone can describe this joyful summer event as elitist (as Margaret

Hodge claimed in 2008 when Minister for Culture). A mystery nearly as great as the widespread misconception about the skills and contribution of engineering.

The Proms take place in the vast edifice of the Royal Albert Hall, one of the most extraordinary buildings in London. A building that was designed and delivered by an extraordinary man, the engineer Major-General Henry Young Darracott Scott. “Goodness me,” whittered BBC presenter Christopher Cook, in a Proms interval feature between a typically eclectic mix of Stockhausen, Birtwhistle and Schumann. “Why appoint an engineer?"

Fortunately renowned architect Max Hutchinson was on air to provide a robust answer. “Thank goodness that it was!” he replied. “Engineers got things done, like the Crystal Palace for example. Just look at the roof of the Royal Albert Hall, the span is enormous, just like an airport terminal - an extraordinary achievement in the mid 19th Century.”

This support came from a rather unexpected quarter - many engineers have become resigned to seeing their creative efforts overshadowed by their architectural colleagues - but it transpired that Max Hutchinson’s father was a military engineer, like Darracott Scott. “There’s something about an engineer that makes him a hero. Back in the 19th Century people would have trusted Brunel to extract teeth,” he went on.

Whilst listening to this spirited support of the engineering profession, I was reminded of two visits to

the Royal Albert Hall that combined wonderful music with technical ingenuity. Back in 1969, I attended the concert to inaugurate the installation of the mushroom shaped baffles suspended high above the arena in an effort to improve the notoriously tricky acoustic. (I should say here in defence of Darracott Young that the hall was not originally intended to stage concerts.)

Then some thirty years on, I enjoyed a fascinating tour of the dome and the newly created cavernous basement area, followed by supper and a Prom concert enjoyed from the comfort of one of the capacious boxes. The tour was led by structural engineer Michelle McDowell, who as a director of the international multi-disciplinary firm BDP (Building Design Partnership) was responsible for the renovation works at the Royal Albert Hall.

Michelle’s impressive career in engineering has been rightly recognised this year, with a string of honours and awards. In January she became the first woman to chair the Association of Consultants and Engineers, in June she was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and then in July was announced First Woman of Property by Lloyds TSB and the CBI.

So whilst I appreciated the spirited and informative contribution to the debate by Max Hutchinson, I couldn’t help thinking that it would have been rather more satisfying for the BBC to ask an engineer, rather than an architect, to talk about the engineer who delivered the Royal Albert Hall. Perhaps even the woman engineer responsible for the £70m renovation project, including the basement in which the radio programme was being recorded. A sign of the times perhaps. In the 21st Century engineers are rarely seen as heroes - let alone heroines.

Crazy scientists and Mad Men

2010-08-03T16:14:00.005+01:00

A dispiriting week for those who thought that the new, business friendly ConLib administration would bring a fresh approach to career aspiration for girls. It started well enough, at the launch of the UKRC report Women mean Business at the House of Commons where LibDem Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone spoke strongly in support of the need to attract and retain more women in science, engineering and technology. She said, “There unfortunately exists a culture in some circles of science – reminiscent of how workplaces were 20 or 30 years ago – which puts off women from pursuing a career in the industry, and makes it extremely hard for those who work in these occupations to progress.”

So it was a pity that the Minister chose to illustrate her speech with shock horror stories that were almost as old as the workplace culture she was criticising. She regaled us with the comment made by a Russian cosmonaut to astronaut Helen Sharman back in 1991 (space is not for women, apparently), referred to the ‘recent’ US experiment with schoolchildren drawing scientists (all eccentric men with crazy hair) which was carried out by the University of Leicester ten years ago and repeated the comment made by Larry Summers when President of Harvard (women haven’t got the brains for maths and science) back in 2005.

No mention of the fact that just days earlier another Harvard luminary, Professor Niall Ferguson, presented a lecture at St Paul’s Cathedral entitled Men, Money and Morality: How can trust in banking be restored, during which he commented that, “It was men, not women, who made the financial crisis.” Or that a month ago NASA successfully sent into space three women astronauts, to join a fourth already circulating the planet on the International Space Station. Or that there is now a woman in the Thunderbirds team or the UK’s Red Arrows. Or the number of female presenters on the increasing number of science and engineering programmes on tv.

Instead the following week we hear from the Equalities Minister that the actress Christina Hendricks is an “absolutely fabulous” role model for girls. Hendricks, a curvaceous size 14 actress, plays the role of predatory secretary in Mad Men, the tv series about the world of advertising in the 1960s. As more than one commentator has remarked, the new minister seems to be rather behind the times – something the world of science and engineering cannot afford to be.

Angela for President!

2010-08-03T15:55:00.004+01:00

Great news this week. Angela Brady has been elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Not only is Angela a talented architect, she is a charming, determined, entrepreneurial and dynamic ambassador for the profession at all levels. A persuasive and engaging presenter, she has appeared frequently on tv and radio, is a tireless committee member, judge and external examiner.

And yes, like the other successful women reaching the top of royal institutions (including her immediate predecessor Ruth Reed), she runs her own successful practice. Brady and Mallalieu was set up in 1987 and has an impressive portfolio and private and public sector clients.

The headlines from Angela’s election manifesto are unequivocal, stating her commitment to:

Effective campaigning to promote the value architects and quality architecture should have in our society.

Championing all architects and the smaller practice to increase work opportunities and simplify procurement frameworks.

Increasing national and global networks between all professions in the construction industry

Tackling climate change locally and nationally and promoting sustainability in schools and to the public

Valuing Architectural Education

A younger and more diverse RIBA which reflects this era and the majority of its members.

"Tradition is an experiment that worked."

2009-11-03T11:18:00.021Z

Harvest time, and where better to spend it than in south west France, where last week the grapes hung full of sweetness and the leaves glowed red after the first frost. Expectations are of a bumper year for quality (although not as high in quantity as the excellent 2005 vintage), so the atmosphere was buoyant as our little group of guests for the vendange walked along the rows of vines with young and dynamic winemaker Vincent Chansault.

Originally a chemistry student, who couldn’t see where that subject would take him, Vincent discovered his vocation in time to enrol on the right course, graduating from the school of Viticulture and Oenology in Cognac and going on to get the dream job of starting the Domaine Gayda vineyard from scratch at the age of 22. In just seven years, fields of sunflowers have been replaced with a vineyard producing award-winning wines.

As Vincent described some of the challenges of establishing a successful vineyard, there was a sense of déjà vu. The skilled workers Vincent needs at key times come in every year from Spain. He has tried local labour and there simply aren’t the skilled and committed workers available. The industry is an ageing one, with an average working age of 55. Occupational health is a concern, with the highest levels of cancer in the country due to the fertilisers and sprays used on many vineyards.

Capital costs and depreciation are significant too. The steel presses and fermentation vats are custom-made, and the casks made by specialists from fine French oak cost 1000 Euros each – and are worth just 40 Euros five years later, when they are pensioned off. Sounds just like construction, I was beginning to think to myself. Insufficient skilled labour, ageing workforce (average age of a steel erector is 55), capital investment, occupational health issues – not to mention adverse weather conditions and the economy.

But then the atmosphere perked up again. Rather than keeping the soil weed-free, Vincent encourages wild plants to grow between the lines of vines, sowing specific ones such as oats, rye and vetch. Why spray chemicals to clear weeds, he says, as this is not only harmful in itself but actually drives bugs and disease to attack the vines. So in high summer, there are not only the traditional rose bushes at the end of each line (they will pick up the first sign of disease) but meadow flowers and cereals flourishing too, creating the green manure that will help to create the cherished ‘terroir’. Bold, innovative approaches are needed in a conservative and competitive market. "Tradition is an experiment that worked," as Emile Peynaud, wine master extraordinaire at Chateau Margaux, remarked when challenged.

"It’s young people who are driving this thinking," says Vincent, "they are committed to sustainabiliy and organic, balanced food production. It is the only sensible way to move forward."

Just the words that were used the previous week, when Andrew Wolstenholme, CEO of Balfour Beatty Management, launched a report reviewing the impact, 10 years on, of Sir John Egan’s review of construction performance. The report Never Waste a Good Crisis highlights the lack of effective leaders and the need to attract and keep more of the right people in construction. "If our present leaders do not feel up to the task, they should at least support the development of the next generation, who appear to understand very clearly what is needed. When you listen to young people in our industry, they want to be involved in delivering on the environmental agenda and don’t think that what has been called the "frozen" middle management gets it."

So, the message is the same. Young people understand and are committed to delivering sustainable solutions, whether it’s zero carbon construction or green manure in vineyards. Let's hope that global warming thaws the permafrost of middle management quicker than the glaciers. A nôtre santé!

Women rulers

2009-09-01T13:29:00.003+01:00

On my desk as I write this, is a wooden inch/cm rule, carrying on its reverse side the words Women rulers: 20th Century Architecture and Design followed by the names of 23 women (the first born in 1856 and the last in 1944) and their most significant construction achievements.

I bought the ruler in July this year in the magnificent National Building Museum in Washington DC, completed in 1887 as a monument to those who had survived the American Civil War and those who had not. In addition to administering and paying pensions, the building’s huge, light and airy Great Hall, was the venue for Presidential inaugural balls for many years.

Some eighty years later, unoccupied and threatened with demolition, the building was reprieved thanks to one of those ‘women rulers’, Clothiel Woodard Smith, whose report The Pension Building: A Building in Search of a Client recommended that it be converted to a museum of the building arts. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building is an award winning museum, with highly regarded educational and outreach programmes, constantly changing displays and has once again become a venue for great events.

So against a background of falling numbers of women at Fellowship level and at the top of organisations, let us hope that the tide may now turn. As one of the 0.9% of CIOB Fellows who is female, I am delighted that this year sees the election of Professor Li Shirong as not only the Institute’s first woman president but also its first international president. Dr Jean Venables is President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Ruth Reed is President Elect of the Royal Institution of British Architects and Janet O’Neill is President of the RTPI. Significantly, these three women run their own practices, as did Clothiel Woodward Smith, (and myself) drawing some interesting conclusions from the findings of the CIC Diversity Survey that very few women in construction are self-employed. Many of those that are, seem to achieve great things.

Worth the wait - and a proper look

2009-09-01T13:18:00.005+01:00

In 1996 when the Latham Working Group on Equal Opportunities produced its report Tomorrow’s Team:women and men in construction, one of the few statistical sources available to the working group was a Construction Industry Council (CIC) report giving figures on the membership profile of a number of its institutions. So it is encouraging that 13 years on, the CIC has revisited the issue, and that the statistics gathered are more comprehensive.

The discouraging element of the CIC Diversity Survey Gathering and Reviewing Diversity Data on the Construction Professions, is that some professional institutions appear to have retained the deep resistance to providing data that was demonstrated in 1996. Then, as now, some bodies failed to answer requests from the Latham Working Group for information, others refused, expressing the view that asking for such information was intrusive and irrelevant.

Against this background, it is perhaps not surprising that the institutions with a traditionally high representation of women and with openness of information gathering have built on their critical mass and positive culture, demonstrating an increasing and proportionately very high rate of female membership. For example, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has grown by 8% to 31% since 1996.

However a feature that the 2009 CIC Diversity Survey authors did not comment on is the significant increase in female membership amongst two institutions that were almost off the scale 13 years ago. The CIOB has doubled its female representation since 1996 and the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) had less than 1% women membership in 1996, but has increased fivefold, something that deserves more acknowledgement from the authors than simply being described ‘only 5%’.

Although the CIC Diversity Survey quotes annual student numbers at the RICS falling from 4,700 to 2,400 between 1994 and 2001, this rose to 7,7782 in 2006 of which 27% was female. In the seven years that the RICS Raising the Ratio Task Force was operating (sadly and summarily disbanded last year and not visibly replaced) it produced excellent research, carried out amongst men and women, identifying the reasons for becoming surveyors, the reasons for leaving the profession and proposing ways in which the right people could be recruited, retained and developed. In addition to women student numbers increasing, the percentage of percentage of women chartered members internationally increased from 10% to 15%.

So what is needed to bring about a better gender balance in construction? Genuine commitment, openness and leadership from professional institutions, flexible and realistic working practices from employers and encouragement and visibility for those women and men who strive make a difference. Starting with the CIC Diversity Panel perhaps, who initiated the survey but who are not identified anywhere on the report or the CIC website.

2009-06-01T23:39:00.006+01:00

Sur le pont...enfin!

As someone who professes a passion for bridges, it has been something of an embarrassment to admit that several visits to France in the past four years have not included crossing the spectacular Millau Viaduct, the highest road bridge in the world.

But 2009 was the year to put this right and the wait - and the six euro toll - was well worth it. Driving across the Millau Viaduct is a breathtaking experience. Taller than the Eiffel Tower, the bridge soars high above the Tarn River Gorge, the seven slender piers reaching into the clouds and supporting the roadway with cobwebs of steel.

Only those people who suffer from a bridge phobia as acute as that portrayed by Michael Palin (in Alan Bleasdale’s entertaining drama GBH back in 1991) should turn down the opportunity to see this glorious example of civil engineering.

And it is a feat of civil engineering. Most of the world may believe that the bridge was designed by the British architect Lord Foster, (who includes the wobbly Millennium Bridge in his portfolio) but the official designer of the Millau Bridge was Michel Virlogeux (who has many wonderful bridges, including the Pont de Normandie, in his).

As Virlogeux expressed it, in an interview with New Civil Engineer magazine a few months after the opening of the project, "I'm the designer, he is the architect." http://www.nce.co.uk/le-concepteur/538054.article. Illustrating the difference between design and architecture, Virlogeux carries 100% risk for performance not related to construction. Responsibility for design was written out of Foster's contract, Foster's contribution to Millau is measured by its invisibility rather than by any obvious stamp of authorship.

"The engineer must not be reduced to the man who does only computations. But nor must you reduce the architect to someone who just does the finishing touches. It's something that must be more integrated," says Virlogeux. The Millau grand projet demonstrates that such integration has been both effective and harmonious, with French engineer and English architect actively seeking further opportunities to work together.

Virlogeux offers the maxim used by the western world's first known engineer, Vitruvius, as a guiding principle. Utility and functionality, stability and durability, and beauty. In that order.

As he says, "The greatest art comes from making things very simple, but very elegant and perfectly adapted."

Go visit – and marvel.

Sport of Kings?

2009-04-06T11:56:00.000+01:00

An eventful sporting weekend last week, with the 100-1 outsider Mon Mome romping home to win the greatest steeplechase in the world, the Grand National at Aintree. The horse not only had the longest odds for 42 years, cheering the spirits and bank balances of bookmakers, but was trained by Venetia Williams and owned by Mrs Vida Bingham. As a final satisfying flourish, the race commentator was Clare Balding, one of the BBC’s premier sports commentators.

And to dispel any thoughts that this was a fluke in the feminine statistical graphs, four of the seven winners at Aintree that same Saturday, 4 April, were trained by women.

Mon Mome’s owner, Mrs Vida Bingham, is a 75 year old international bridge playing widow. She says, "I asked Venetia to be my trainer because she looked honest and trustworthy."

Trainer Venetia Williams was originally a jockey, but a fall in the Grand National in 1988 followed by another just two weeks later that broke the Hangman’s bone in her neck, put paid to her riding career. Hence the shift to trainer. Now she is hailed as the heiress apparent to the grande dame Jenny Pitman, who has trained two Grand National winners.

After 56 years with Queen Elizabeth II on the throne - a skilled horsewoman, daughter of a renowned follower of the turf and mother and grandmother of world class equestriennes - isn’t it about time horse racing was renamed the Sport of Monarchs?

Just one little word....

2008-12-11T18:25:00.007Z

Flicking through New Scientist the other day, my eye was caught by a striking full-page advertisement featuring a black tulip. This was not the sought after flower that led to the tulip madness in the 1630s - an economic bubble that was as disastrous as the current house price or contemporary art bubbles of today. This tulip was black because of its coating of engine oil, and the headline was a call to ‘Join the people who will develop a non-polluting fuel.’

The ad was placed by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (previously known as the Institution of Electrical Engineers) in its campaign to attract more members who want to make significant positive differences to the world.

This is a cheery and positive message as this year’s rather subdued festive season gets under way. Then I heard a faint rattle of the ghost of Christmas Past, as I recalled an incident at a corporate drinks party last December. Upstairs, downstairs and on the stairs - people everywhere chatting animatedly, exchanging business cards, backslapping and greeting. Yes, give or take the odd no-show, the Christmas do was going well. Cranberry juice cocktails were proving as popular as the wine, boding well for a lower level of departing boisterousness than previous years.

The Chairman’s wife, successful in her own right, charming and stylish, was engaged in animated conversation when a departing guest interrupted the chat to bid her farewell. With a refreshing disregard for current political correctness, he complimented her warmly on her striking, jewel coloured silk jacket. But then he ruined the entire uplifting and charming effect with, "But I am only an engineer, so what do I know?"

Only an engineer? Only an engineer? What is going on in universities, colleges and the industry, that instils in engineers a sense of self-deprecation that makes Uriah Heep look positively cocky? For years, civil engineers in particular have bemoaned their lack of profile, the perennial complaint that they are seen by most people as a washing machine repairer or car mechanic. Mind you, both of these occupations can be greatly appreciated, particularly when the kitchen floor is awash or the engine doesn’t start as you set off to the airport.

Perhaps that is the key. How often do people need a civil engineer? Civil engineering expertise is not a distress purchase like other professional services such as law, accountancy or medicine - when faced with a court summons, tax return or broken leg (tick appropriate box).

Mind you, there have been occasions when I have been very happy to see a civil engineer and pay the bill too. Like the time when I had just bought a house in 24 hours – yes, it is possible – and then spotted two cracks running 30ft (10 metres in new money) from gable to ground on the flank wall of the newly acquired property. An hour later and the civil engineer was there, squinting into the sun and then pronouncing that there was no major problem. These were simply thermal cracks from coal fires over the past 150 years and could be sorted out with stitching and pointing.

That word 'only' applied to the problem, not the person delivering a professional solution to it.

Postcript: for those of you who are looking for a last minute Christmas present for a plant lover, I recommend Anna Pavord's beautiful book The Tulip.

Valiant women: notes from an orange grove

2008-12-08T17:11:00.008Z

I am writing this entry in Mallorca, our first visit since our honeymoon 40 years ago. We are staying in a garden house in orange and lemon groves in Soller, a little mediaeval town in the Tremuntana Mountains in the northwest of the island. The diary of local events reveals that every year in May the town has a festival to celebrate Ses Valentes Dones (the Valiant Women). Back in 1561, two sisters refused to run and hide when pirates invaded the island, instead attacking and killing several of the men who broke into their home and contributing significantly to Soller’s victory over the marauders.

This story of the strength and determination that women find at times of war reminded me of the speech I had given just a few days before, at a Women in Property lunch at Raymond Blanc’s beautiful restaurant La Maison aux Quat’ Saisons near Oxford. (make link to site and report). In Visibility, Entrepreneurship and Success, I recounted the little known but extraordinary tale of the women who built London’s Waterloo Bridge during the Second World War. Construction historian Dr Chris Wall discovered that, although riverboat pilots refer to ‘The Ladies Bridge’ on leisure trips on the Thames, the story had been written out of the official archives.

Her investigations resulted in a fascinating documentary film which revealed that despite 70% of the workforce being women, their contribution was not acknowledged. When Waterloo Bridge was opened in 1945, the dignitary doing the honours was Lord Mandelson’s grandfather Herbert Morrison, then Deputy Prime Minister. His words were "The men who built Waterloo are fortunate men. They know that, although their names may be forgotten, their work will be a pride and use to London for many generations to come."

So why did so few people know then, let alone remember now? The son of one of the men who worked on the project with main contractor Peter Lind recalled his father’s comment that the women didn’t look like women, because they wore all-in-one overalls, with their hair tied up in scarves or hats. Tight security around the site also kept onlookers at a considerable distance. So the women were simply invisible.

The film The Ladies' Bridge includes interviews with some of the women welders and builders recalling their experiences - and their deep frustration at having to give up their work when the men returned from war to reclaim their jobs. "But it showed me what I could do," said one doughty nonagenarian, "My husband found that I was an independent woman when he got back from the front."

As Harriet Rubin, in her book Princessa: Machiavelli for Women, says "When the rules are broken, or in shambles, women succeed. War favours the dangerous woman."

So if a small town like Soller in Mallorca has acknowledged its two Valiant Women every year for nearly five centuries, why don’t we organise a celebration every year to acknowledge the invisible and valiant women in construction? After all, there were 25,000 of them in the building trades in 1941, representing 3% compared with a mere 1% today, so they could do with some recognition. Perhaps a walk of constructive women, past and present, from every discipline, from both side of the River Thames, and meeting in the middle of Waterloo Bridge for balloons, bubbly and fireworks?

Critical mass, leaky pipeline or your own canoe?

2008-11-30T17:20:00.002Z

Some fascinating contrasts are revealed in the latest report about women in the boardroom. Ten years on from the first Cranfield Female FTSE Report, the number of directorships held by women on FTSE 100 corporate boards has risen by only five percentage points, from 7% in 1999 to 12% this year.

But there is good news too, and some intriguing findings for women working in the non-traditional workplace. Whilst 22 companies in the index have no women at all on their boards, some of the others who do, want more of them. Report co-author Ruth Sealey comments, “In comparison to the 1999 figures, the most significant increase is in the number of companies with multiple women on their boards – 39 of the FTSE 100.”

She continues, “It is only once a critical mass of women in the boardroom is attained that real culture change can occur.”

That’s fine and dandy, but the critical mass argument doesn’t seem to be working down the pipeline. Despite women achieving 50% (or more) representation in medicine, law and accountancy, the cry goes up regularly that there are far too few at the top of their profession.

What’s more, according to the Cranfield report, some companies working in industries with relatively few women in the workforce have a higher number of women on their boards than those with lots. Surprisingly, it is the oil, gas, mining and electricity industries that have more women in their top executive posts than sectors like retail. So where are we now on the critical mass versus leaky pipeline argument?

It is often put forward that the reason there are so few women at the top is because they don’t want to rise into the heady and ruthless stratosphere of the corporate world and the ranks of the great and good. They are lost through that leaky pipeline, choosing to re-train or change career direction, often setting up their own business.

But I can throw another surprise into the mix. Preparing a speech for the launch of a new satellite branch of the dynamic network Women in Property, I found an interesting common denominator amongst the women breaking down the bastions at the top of very traditional, professional institutions. They have all chosen to paddle their own canoes, running successful businesses, bringing up families and yet keeping on the radar screen for advancement.

They are: President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (Dr Jean Venables OBE), past President of the Institution of Mechnical Engineers (Pam Liversidge OBE), President of the Royal Town Planning (Janet O’Neill) and President-Elect of the Royal Institute of British Architects (Ruth Reed).

Views are invited on how women reach the top – and what companies should do about it.

Making history on both sides of The Pond

2008-11-06T22:30:00.000Z

On Tuesday 4 November 2008, whilst Americans across the USA were voting for their first black President, another historic event was taking place in the UK. Dr Jean Venables OBE was inaugurated as the first woman president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in its 190-year-old history.

It was a privilege and a pleasure to be one of the capacity audience in the imposing ICE headquarters building in Westminster to hear Jean deliver her presidential address. She pledged action on climate change, putting engineers right at the heart of infrastructure policy decision making, advising government every step of the way.

"We need to take the risk of taking decisions –now," she said, with calm authority. "We have got to engender the same sense of urgency and importance about climate change that the recent banking crisis has had."

A leading engineer in the field of flood risk management – for which she was awarded the OBE in 2004 - Jean has combined her engineering career with running a successful consultancy with her husband Professor Roger Venables and bringing up two sons. She has an impressive portfolio of appointments and awards, including Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering, visiting lectureships at Imperial College and Southampton University, and Chairmanship of the Thames Estuary partnership.

Told at school that ‘girls don’t do engineering’, Jean discovered that this was indeed the case when she arrived at Imperial College to be one of only two women studying civil engineering that year. As she commented in her address, "Considering I was only the 16th woman to become a Chartered Member of the ICE and the 12th to become a Fellow, it’s not surprising there’s never been a women president."

"ICE currently has only 8% female membership across all grades, so clearly there is much to be done to get more women into civil engineering. However, the landscape is already changing with 20% of the student and graduate member grades being women."

An important step in this direction was demonstrated when Jean introduced her President’s Apprentices – five young graduate members of ICE chosen to work closely with her throughout the year. They will gain an invaluable insight into the role of a senior engineer and the workings of the institution. Three of the five are young women.

A salutary tale

2008-11-06T22:22:00.003Z

Sitting two along in the Great Hall, at the inauguration of Jean Venables OBE as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, was another rare female of the species FICE (Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineers). She told my husband the following tale, after being impressed by his feminist credentials (he was a fellow student of Jean Venables in the sixties and fought alongside her to stop the habit of the City and Guilds Association of allowing only one woman - the President’s wife - to attend their official events).

When she became a Chartered Civil Engineer, said our new friend, she was taken aback that the letter confirming her achievement was addressed to ‘Mr’. Her request that this be changed to ‘Miss’ was refused by the female ICE staff member, who pointed out that as only two of the 1500 newly chartered individuals were female it was not worth changing the usual salutation.

It was only when the newly fledged CEng pointed out that her local authority employer was refusing to grant the increased salary that Chartership brings, on the grounds that the letter clearly couldn’t be referring to her, that the august body produced a correctly addressed letter.

Fish and the Widow

2008-10-27T15:17:00.025Z

This was the weekend that the clocks went back –and we made the most of the extra hour by getting round to hanging the long awaited jizai-kagi above the two metre wide open fireplace in our cottage in Gloucestershire.

A jizai-kagi is an adjustable hook to hold cooking pots above the central fireplace in a traditional Japanese house. It is often in the form of a carved fish, in the hope that a symbol synonymous with water will give protection against fire destroying the wood and paper houses.

We first saw a jizai-kagi some 15 years ago, in a tiny shop in a village on the Nakasendo Way, a 500 km cobbled highway built in the 8th Century to link Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo). We didn’t know then what it was for, but our decision not to buy the battered but lovely wooden carp –and to find some way of carrying it home safely – has been a source of regret ever since.

But we decided this year to resolve the regret, and after considerable sleuth work, we took delivery of a beautifully carved, very heavy, one metre long jizai-kagi in the shape of a carp, complete with pot hook, from a Japanese antique dealer based in Canada.

Off we went to the local hardware store to buy the fixings to hold our piscatorial insurance policy over the fireplace. A pair of hot dip galvanised staples, on back plates, were just the job and they were duly screwed into the elm beams of the ceiling.

As I gathered up the packet that had contained the staples, I noticed the manufacturer’s name was Eliza Tinsley. Intrigued, I searched on Google to discover that when Eliza’s husband died in 1851, leaving her with five children under the age of 11, she took over his business, a company that made nails, chain, rope and hardware for agricultural, building and engineering use. Known locally as 'the widow', she built a reputation as a fair and knowledgeable businesswoman and the business thrived, becoming the largest of its kind in the West Midlands.

In fact, according to the National Census of 1871, around 4,000 people were employed by Eliza Tinsley, many of them outworkers living in the chainmakers cottages prominent throughout the region. They would visit the site once a week to collect materials and then would return the following week with finished product forged in their own outhouses.

It is very likely that most of these 4,000 people employed by Eliza Tinsley were girls and women, who dominated the Black Country nail making trade in the West Midlands at that time. According to Arthur Willets, author of The Black Country Nail Trade, it was common practice "for colliers and ironworkers to marry a nailing wench who was also expected to bring up the children while they followed more manly pursuits."

Those men who did make nails spent much of their time determined to keep their wages higher than those of the women, who at that time did not have the vote, let alone the benefit of the Equal Pay Act.

Today Eliza Tinsley http://www.elizatinsley.co.uk/ is a PLC owned by the Atlantic Group, making buckets and hydraulics for JCB and Caterpillar diggers as well as a huge range of chains, ropes and hardware. I would like to think that Eliza Tinsley’s reputation as a ‘fair and respected businesswoman’ meant that she was an enlightened employer. Perhaps establishing the ethos that led to the company deciding, 150 years after she became owner, to reduce dividends to shareholders to make good the shortfall in the company’s pension scheme for its workers.

As Andrew Hall, CEO of the group at the time said in a Moneybox interview in 2001 on BBC Radio 4, "My predecessors made pension promises to a whole group of people which we as a current management have a responsibility to honour."

Back to the matter in hand, we decided a toast was in order to celebrate the arrival of our beautiful fish guardian, hanging securely above the hearth thanks to an entrepreneurial woman ironmonger from the Black Country known as the widow. A bottle of Veuve Cliqot seemed appropriate.

Ladies who power lunch

2008-10-12T21:29:00.017+01:00

To mark the publication of its 'World's 100 Most Powerful Women ' list for 2008, Fortune magazine hosted a lunch for 50 women from the worlds of business, finance and politics in the City of London last week. Inexplicably invited to the party, I found myself seated next to the host for the event, the dynamic, articulate and funny Ann Moore, Chairman and CEO of the world's largest magazine company, Time Inc.

It quickly became evident that despite a belief that there is still much to be done to get more women at the top, Fortune magazine had managed to gather together an impressive group in one room. Conversation took off fast and furious around our table, reflecting the many areas in which women have become influential. The Right Hon Patricia Hewitt MP, (one time Minister for Trade and industry and now non executive director of BT) shared recollections with Dame Judith Mayhew-Jonas (first woman to run the City of London, chair of the Royal Opera House and now tasked with the transformation of London's West End) of their trade mission to India.

Other table companions included Jodi Birkett, who at 32 is the youngest ever corporate finance partner at Deloitte - and the oldest member of her veteran's rugby team (she plays hooker) - and Susan Payne, who set up her own asset management company Emergent in 1996 and heads the London chapter of 85 Broads, the world’s biggest professional women’s network. Dona Roche-Tarry, holder of top level posts at BT before becoming Head of HR at Barclays Commercial is now partner of international executive search firm CT Partners specialising in finding the right person for roles on the board.

Anya Hindmarch, the 'Handbag Queen' who combines running her £20m international business with bringing up five children was the eighth guest at our table. Ann Moore delightedly produced her Hindmarch purse and Patricia Hewitt and Judith Mayhew-Jonas waxed lyrical about the Hindmarch bag given to first class travellers on British Airways. "Much better than the terrible plastic thing with a rubber band around it from Qantas, said Australian born Hewitt, clearly voting for her adoptive country when it comes to handbags. Which highlighted another interesting factor - our table boasted an Australian, a New Zealander, a Canadian, two Americans and three Brits.

But the dominant topic for the lunch was the tumultous events in the world economy. One of the most worrying factors was not only the ability but the physical wellbeing of the people dealing with the global financial meltdown, said Ann Moore. "They are all suffering from severe sleep deprivation, " she said, "which must impact on their ability to make rational decisions."

In conversation over coffee with co-host Stephanie Mehta, Global Editor of Fortune, Ann Moore told guests that to survive what is going to be a severe downturn, you must take care of your health and manage stress levels, despite the pressure, she advised. And when it comes to more women succeeding in business, employers need to recognise that people have lives outside work and women should help each other with mentoring and support.

But this is the comment that really convinced me, a one-time journalist who set up her own marketing consultancy specialising in engineering and construction, that Ann Moore was definitely my new best friend.

"We really don’t need any more bankers," she said, "What the world needs now are more engineers, journalists, marketers and entrepreneurs."

Women and Tomorrow's world

2008-10-10T00:34:00.009+01:00

There is nothing like being asked to chair a conference on the role of women in the government’s ‘Vision for Science and Society’ to focus the mind on this challenging topic. So before setting off for the Institute of Directors last week, I marshalled some thoughts in the hope of steering the day from lively debate to practical proposals.

The conference was organised by the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET, as one of a series to gather experience and recommendations on how to ensure that gender equality is included in government policy on science and society. (http://www.ukrc4setwomen.org/html/about-ukrc/influencing-policy/a-vision-for-science-and-society/)

The official report on the fascinating day will be posted shortly, but in the meantime, here are some personal musings on the three topics highlighted in the ‘Vision for Science and Society’ consultation paper produced by DIUS, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

A society excited by and valuing science
In 2008, my wonder that aircraft can fly, that clean water comes out of the tap and that I can speak to people around the world through a small piece of metal is probably regarded by many as childish naivety rather than awe at technological achievement. But let’s face it, there is a myriad of extraordinary ways in which our lives are enriched by science, but which too often generate unrealistic expectation rather than appreciation.

A society that feels confident in the use of science.
The complexity of scientific endeavour makes effective communication a challenge. Add in questions of ethics and practice and it is perhaps not surprising that public confidence can be tested. Now there is an additional challenge, caused by the growing division between religious and scientific belief. US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is the latest high profile proponent for teaching creationism side by side with Darwinian science in schools.
Extraordinary to think that it is nearly 400 years since Galileo was forced by the Inquisition to recant his theory that the Earth moves around the Sun, causing him great personal distress in balancing his religious commitment and scientific belief. But then it is only 16 years since the Vatican acknowledged that he was right. If you want to know more, read Dava Sobell’s book Galileo’s daughter.

A society that supports a representative, well-qualified scientific workforce.
It is paradoxical that despite the liberating influence of science, engineering and technology on women’s daily lives, that so few choose to study or work in the disciplines that have created that freedom. The need to improve advice and opportunities offered to girls and young women, together with realistic working conditions and effective career development remains paramount.
At a smart gathering of legal eagles last week it was rather depressing to be told by an articulate young woman that she couldn’t see anything interesting to do with her biology degree so she had opted to become a litigation lawyer.
On the plus side, just a few days earlier at an even more glittery evening at Claridges, it was a delight to sit at table with one of the regional winners of the Women in Property awards for young women studying built environment subjects.
Just starting on the third year of her architecture degree, Katherine Timmins told me what she did when faced with no practical careers advice or help from her school in identifying how to take up her chosen career path., "I just went on the web and sorted it out for myself," she said. An excellent role model in the making.

Women behaving nicely

2008-09-07T23:40:00.003+01:00

The autumn season gets off to an excellent start, with the all-woman panel session on Good Business on 4 September at the International Construction Superconference in London.

Well, it was an all woman panel until the evening before, when the chap from the concurrent session asked if he could join our hen party, rather than run his solo presentation in the next suite at the same time.

Taking the request as a compliment and happy to demonstrate inclusiveness, (not to mention welcoming a larger audience) I agree. So David Lane of Hill International joins the line-up, with Janet Kidner of Lend Lease Retail and Communities, Suzannah Nichol of the National Specialist Contractors Council and, thanks to sponsorship by the Chartered Institute of Building, Bridgette Gasa from COEGA development zone in South Africa.

Our panel theme of Good Business addressed the challenging and sometimes rather nebulous issues of what might be described as good behaviour in construction - sustainability, diversity, cultural awareness, governance, fair trading, human capital, corporate social responsibility…… Rather than seeing such issues simply as a moral ‘nice to have’ or as an irksome burden of compliance, the speakers set out to demonstrate that good behaviour can help to do Good Business.

Janet Kidner started the session with a calmly professional presentation on Lend Lease Retail and Communities UK’s commitment to practical sustainability. As she put it, sustainability is good for their business, enhancing competitive advantage and helping to win projects, reducing running costs and attracting good people.

Suzannah Nichol, Chief Executive of the National Specialist Contractors Council, followed with a no holds barred and highly entertaining summary of why she has launched a campaign for fair payment in the supply chain. As she put it, “Major contractors here may find some of my comments uncomfortable, but the fact is, not paying on time the people who actually do the work is totally unacceptable.”

In contrast, softly spoken Bridgette Gasa took to the lectern to outline how she is tackling job creation and business support for Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises as part of major infrastructure regeneration in South Africa. She described how the long term objectives of capacity building, through individual training, business support and setting a quota of work opportunities for minority owned firms, is beginning to build human capital in a major industrial development zone.

Finally David Lane described how good behaviour is essential when setting out to tap into the vast opportunities for doing business in China. Tips on customs and etiquette included: understanding the importance of seniority, waiting to be guided to a specific seat at dinner, sniffing rather than blowing your nose into a handkerchief and remaining articulate even after significant consumption of alcohol.

Judging by the audience reaction, once again the all woman Superconference panel (ok, with one man this year) delivered a refreshing approach to familiar topics, in a tightly paced way by articulate, professional and entertaining women.

Yet, the only women speakers at the conference were the four of us on that panel! Come on everyone, let's try to redress the balance. Next time you see a pale, male and stale construction conference line-up, why not take a leaf out of David Lane’s book and simply phone up to invite yourself (or a woman you know) on to the platform. Asking firmly yet very politely, of course.

Bright spark on a damp day

2008-08-05T00:09:00.004+01:00

Now that the summer holidays are here, the builders are at work in the small primary school in the village. They are knocking down walls to ‘create an appropriate learning environment’ for the 70 children attending the little Cotswold stone school built in 1878 by the Baptist Church.

In the second week of works, the three white vans parked on the verge opposite the school are joined by a fourth, the electrical contractor. Passing by on my return from the Village Shop and Post Office (thankfully spared closure) I notice that the slim figure with a mane of curly auburn hair, busy selecting mounting boxes and switches boxes in the back of the van, is a young woman.

Long mystified by why there are so few women electricians, compared with the other building trades, I stopped to chat. She is apprenticed to a local firm, training at the local college and loves the work. She knows three others in the area, all equally happy. Does she think that it is the maths that might put girls and women off?

"No," she says, "understanding the basics is quite simple." She’s really looking forward to qualifying in a year’s time - there's much more interesting stuff to do than just installing sockets.

Just the sort of person to shed some new light on the world of work, by talking to the children about what she did in the summer holidays.

The ultimate boat shoe

2008-07-16T02:00:00.004+01:00

Last week Peter the electrician, who did the wiring for our kitchen extension last year, came back to install lights and power in the garden. As luck would have it, the heavens opened just after he arrived, reminding us that his previous visit was the day of the Great Flood of 2007. As London descended into chaos that day last July, he temporarily abandoned our work in order to go to the rescue of another customer in Wandsworth whose house was a metre deep in water.

Peter began to chuckle as he recalled the owner’s stoicism in the face of disaster. As she moved precious items out of harm’s way, she discovered a new benefit of a smart wardrobe. "The really great thing about Jimmy Choo shoes," she mused, "is that the boxes float!"

Who says Americans don’t do irony?

2008-07-13T23:30:00.006+01:00

The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC is housed in what was once an all-male domain - a Masonic Lodge. Who says Americans don’t do irony?

A visit was essential. Stepping from the blistering heat of the street into the cool marble atrium of the imposing wedge-shaped building was just the first stage of a refreshing visit. A magnificent sweeping staircase, ballustraded galleries, intricate plasterwork and glittering chandeliers combined with cool and spacious areas to showcase a variety of works of wonderful quality from the 16th Century through to the present, from paintings to sculpture, jewellery to photography, textiles to metalwork.

The NMWA was the culmination of an interest in women artists triggered by a still life painting by the early 17th Century Flemish painter Clara Peeters, bought by Wilhelmina and Wallace Holladay during a trip to Europe in the 1960s. They discovered that very few art dealers, collectors or scholars were familiar with, or interested in, works by women. The Holladays embarked on an interest that became an obsession and by 1983 the collection of works and books had outgrown their Washington home. Wilhelmina set about raising the funds to buy a property to house the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to displaying works by women artists of all periods and nationalities.

Wilhelmina Holladay was determined and remarkably successful, raising sufficient money in two years to buy the 78,810-square-foot Masonic Lodge, an historic (albeit derelict) Washington landmark together with the next door theatre. The extensive and challenging renovation programme was masterminded by Dr Anne-Imelda Radice, a distinguished art historian and museum curator , and the resulting building won numerous architectural awards.

Inevitably there was carping about the concept of a museum solely for women artists. One reviewer wrote after the opening show, that feminists had anxieties about an institution many regarded as elitist and disempowering. "For now, artists are caught in a double bind. Damned if they do enter the collection, and damned if they don't."

But the museum has proved to be a success. Since NWMA opened in 1987, the permanent collection has grown to more than 2,600 works by 700 artists, a wide range of educational programmes have been established. 140 special exhibitions taken place and nearly 200,000 people have become members.

And just to remind us of the need to recognise the achievements of women in the arts, my eye was caught by one particular work by Lee Krasner. Wife of the unfaithful, alcoholic artist Jackson Pollock, who was killed in a car crash ten years after they married, it took several more years before she achieved recognition as a successful artist in her own right.

Hanging above the picture are the words of her teacher Hans Hofmann, leader of the Abstract Expressionist movement in the USA.
"This is so good you would not know it was painted by a woman."

Amazons or eye candy?

2008-06-26T18:06:00.004+01:00

As I sat in the air conditioned comfort of a condo in hot, steamy Washington DC, reading in the New York Times about the decision of the US Army to break tradition in order to allow a woman to reach the top (see Thinking out of a five sided box), I was reminded that Spain has also recognised women as top warriors.

The line-up of the Spanish Cabinet announced by Zapatero not only showed women out-numbering the men (nine female ministers out of 17) but also the appointment of heavily pregnant Carme Chacon as Minister of Defence. She immediately pledged to boost the number of women in Spain's armed forces, which first allowed female members in 1988.

Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, consolidates her position as Deputy Prime Minister with increased responsibilities and Magdalena Alvarez continues at Public Works with the challenge of solving Catalonia's water crisis.

In France too, Prime Minister Sarkozy has feminised his ministerial line-up, with the appointment of 11 women in the 33-member administration, including seven out of 16 Cabinet ministers and three of the top five most senior positions. Christine Lagarde, head of US law firm Baker Mackenzie becomes the first woman to become Finance Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie is Interior Minister and Justice Minister is the outspoken Muslim, Rachida Dati.

The reaction to the Zapatero appointments has been revealing. Italy’s Sylvio Berlusconi announced that Spain’s cabinet was ‘too pink’ and that there would difficulties in leading them. A telling comment from someone who is famous for his enjoyment of women’s company – and who has four women in his cabinet including a former topless model. Presumably this sort of occupation make women more accommodating when it comes to making important decisions than, say, an economist or four-star general.

As for the UK, the focus was sartorial rather than political, with much admiration for the elegance and grooming of the Spanish and French cabinet. One after another, national newspaper commentators drew unflattering comparisons with the dress sense of British female politicians –The women of Dowdy Street being a particularly popular headline.

What a pity the opportunity was missed to identify the skills and attributes of women making it to the top in politics, by the celebrity focus on frocks and hairstyles. Moreover, glasshouses and stones came into my mind, as I recall how often I am shocked by the singularly scruffy appearance of many women journalists (and I am speaking as someone who spent several years as one, including a stint in the fashion industry).

My view is that women and men should be properly dressed for their work. Being smart, appropriate and well groomed is a must for those are running affairs of state. It is good to see that now he is Prime Minister rather than Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown no longer insists on wearing a brown lounge suit to attend white tie dinners at the Mansion House, an unnecessarily distracting affectation.

At the other end of the working life spectrum, it is still difficult for women working in construction to obtain easily the right size clothing, particularly boots and protective wear. Presumably with General Anne Dunwoody organising equipment for the Pentagon this will not be a problem for the women soldiers in the US Army.

Thinking out of a five sided box

2008-06-25T18:02:00.000+01:00

In an extraordinary break from US army tradition, President Bush has nominated a woman for promotion to the rank of full, four-star general. Historically the route to the top has required service in combat roles but the Pentagon has chosen to cast aside this customary limitation to allow General Ann E Dunwoody to reach the height of her career.

One of only two women with three stars in the US Army - the other is Lt Gen Kathleen Gainey, director of logistics on the Joint Staff – General Dunwoody will head Army Materiel Command, responsible for equipping, outfitting and arming soldiers throughout the army.

Defence Secretary Robert M Gates says of Dunwoody, “Her 33 years of service, highlighted by extraordinary leadership and devotion to duty, make her exceptionally qualified for this senior position.”

The nomination requires confirmation by the US Senate. Let’s hope that this body takes the same enlightened view as the US Army.

The New York Times National
Tuesday 24 June 2008.

Not now darling - Sandi's six o'clock rule

2008-06-23T19:39:00.011+01:00

An afternoon spent in the House of Lords today convinces me that Sandi's six o'clock rule deserves wider coverage than the passing mention in my blog Puckering up, posted on 31 March.

I was there in the beautiful Attlee Room to chair the Enterprising Women Forum, organised by the Pink Shoes Club's indefatigible Helene Martin Gee in association with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Entrepreneurship. After discussing micro-finance, compliance and wealth creation, debate moved towards managing male/female relationships in the workplace. One delegate commented about using feminity in the workplace, another on how difficult it was for young men to know the appropriate way to greet female colleagues.

So I shared my socio/business rule, developed after years of being the only woman in business meetings and in the boardroom.

Quite simply, before six pm I shake hands with men and women colleagues, fellow directors and clients. This means that meetings start on a businesslike and equitable footing for all. After six pm the continental greeting of a kiss on both cheeks is welcome from those whom I know well and with whom I have a friendly and social relationship. My male colleagues know what to do, those whom I have only just met do not feel they have been excluded. We all know where we stand - and we can get on with the business of business.

Women want opportunity, not coercion

2008-06-23T13:33:00.004+01:00

In the latest book on the biological differences between men and women that may affect their progress in the world of work, clinical psychologist Susan Pinker argues that prenatal testosterone creates a 'wired-in' difference. She believes that this explains "why women are biologically driven to nurture their young rather than climb the corporate ladder."

Her arguments are strongly challenged in a review of her book that appeared in 5 April edition of the New Scientist. In her critique of The Sexual Paradox:troubled boys, gifted girls & the real difference between the sexes*, Durham University’s Anne Campbell challenges Pinker’s argument that even men suffering from conditions such as Asperger’s syndrome succeed in the world of work whereas privileged women fail.

Campbell questions Pinker’s definition of success, because it is based on the traditional male criteria of academic achievement, high salary, early promotion and corporate power. She also challenges Pinker’s determination to find an enemy, defined as those who are “insisting on a 50-50 gender split in all fields, ” and who are willing to tamper with human nature itself to achieve it.

This is old hat, thinks Campbell. She asserts that for some 20 years the focus has been on creating opportunities for women to study male-typical subjects and to work in previously male dominated fields. She says, “Giving women the change does not mean forcing them to take it, any more than it means debarring men from these fields."

*Atlantic Books, £12.99

Because we're worth it!

2008-06-20T13:47:00.000+01:00

Two documents worth popping into the Chairman and CEO's in-trays: Room at the top: women and success in UK business and also Women Matter: gender diversity, a corporate performance driver.

As they have the clout of being produced by McKinsey & Company, there is the strong possibility that the impact will go beyond a superficial read. The nub of the argument is that studies demonstrate a correlation between greater gender diversity and better economic performance.The first found that companies with three or more women in senior management positions performed significantly better across nine organisational criteria than companies with fewer women at the top. And companies that scored higher on these organisational criteria also performed better financially,with operating margins twice as high as those of lower-ranked businesses.

This finding was reinforced by a second study,which looked at economic performance for European companies with a market capitalisation of over €150 million and found that those companies with an influential female presence on the executive committee outperformed their peers in terms of return on equity,operating margin and stock price growth.

Key recommendations are familiar to those agitating for change:
1. Put the right support in place. Companies need to recognise the value of coaching, mentoring, networking and training in retaining and expanding the female talent pool.

2. Facilitate a better work-life balance, through flexible working hours and career flexibility.

3. Adapt people management processes. Recruitment, appraisal and career management systems should facilitate the progression of high performing women and help companies to keep
their talent pipeline healthy.

4. Create transparency by introducing and monitoring gender diversity KPIs. These will define and direct priorities for action, and enable companies to measure progress.

5. Lead from the top. The leadership of the CEO and Chairperson is vital.

None of this is rocket science, but it's good to see some rigorous quantifying of the business case.

Role models and rebellion

2008-04-28T12:17:00.009+01:00

When Vicki Treadell, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai (and the only woman Commissioner in the Asian sub-continent) visited London last month, the indefatigable Pinky Lilani OBE, successful businesswoman and Chair of the Asian Women Awards, reacted with customary speed and enthusiasm. Within days, Pinky harnessed the resources of Caspian Publishing’s diversity division to organise a drinks reception for Vicki. “I only heard a week ago that she was going to be here,” said Pinky, “but I was determined to gather together as many women in business together as I could to meet her.”

When I joined the crowd of women from business, commerce and law gathered at the Ernst & Young's offices next to City Hall on a blustery March evening, Pinky told me why she was so determined to welcome Vicki Treadell. "I visited India with a trade delegation in January, and led a meeting looking at the increasing importance of women in the economy, "she said. "We were given such support from Vicki that I felt it was important for her to meet businesswomen on her visit to London."

Vicki’s career began when she answered a crecruitment advertisement for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Initially looking for a job to fund her gap year, she quickly realised that the FCO could give her the career she really wanted. Her diverse background caused some confusion though. Born in Malaysia, of a Singapore Chinese mother and a half-Dutch, half-French father born in Ceylon, she settled in Britain with her family at the age of eight. She told us that her head of department at the FCO, David Gore-Booth, remarked on her first day, “I am confused — how can you be a British diplomat?”

Undeterred, Vicki worked in the Economic Relations Department in London before her first overseas posting, which was a challenging one for a woman - Islamabad in the early eighties. Then followed four years in Kuala Lumpur before moving back to the FCO in London to work on policy issues for Western Europe and Latin America.

Seconded at a senior level UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the British government’s overseas commercial arm, Vicki Treadell was determined to get a truer picture of the commerce and industry of the UK than can be seen from the rarefied environment of Whitehall. So she spent three years with the North West Development Agency. Living and working in Accrington, Lancashire, she says, taught her a great deal about what it takes to run manufacturing companies.

This down to earth approach is proving invaluable in her role in Mumbai. “About half of what I do now is about business,” she said. “I'm there to help UK plc capitalise on opportunities in India, and vice versa.” Delegates from all sectors of UK business arrive every week and she tries to help by arranging introductions and sometimes lobbying officials for legal reform. 'Where we see a political issue not helpful to UK industry, we'll push for change,' she says.

Asked why she felt that public service was the career for her, despite her keen interest and support for business, Vicki told us, “I went into public service to rebel against my parents, who retired young after successful commercial careers. ”

She went on to recount another example of rebellious youth. It seems that older Indian women have great regard for the UK, its traditions and its values but their daughters and nieces are looking to the USA as the place to be and the place that delivers. “We got sick of hearing how wonderful Britain was, reading Jane Austen and Shakespeare,” they say, “so we are rebelling against tradition to find our own heroes.”

A lesson here for those promoting UK plc. The British film industry may be doing good (and well deserved) business with crinolines, bonnets and classic drama, but we need the diversity and determination of women like Pinky and Vicki to show the reality of today's Britain and encourage young women to make bold career choices.

Caption: Pinky Lilani (left) with Vicki Treadell in London, 5 March. Photograph courtesy of the The Telegraph, Calcutta.

Phwoar, what a corker!

2008-04-17T17:52:00.013+01:00

There I was, sitting in the Housing Forum conference this week, listening to the recurring theme of the difficulty in finding skilled people to deliver better quality homes, when scorching down the ether on to my Blackberry came the latest example of the ConstructionSkills approach to promoting careers in construction.

It was an advertisement in The Sun newspaper featuring a well endowed young woman in skimpy vest, hard hat, strategically positioned tool belt and Black & Decker at the ready.

'Are you ready to build a reputation?' ran the headline.

Was she one of the few young women responding to the £500,000 ConstructionSkills marketing and promotion campaign, I wondered. One who had found one of those elusive work placements on a building site? (See Women on the tools below)

Of course she wasn't. She was a photographer's model, tempting young people between the ages of 17 and 22 to enter for the SkillBuild competition to find the best builder in Britain. Ah, I get it, she must be the prize for the lucky winner. I jest.

The only good thing about this story is that Mike Bialyj of ConstructionSkills was not only attending the same conference, but was sitting on the Question Time panel. I asked whether such advertising was an appropriate way to recruit and attract more of the right people - including women.

Judging by the reaction of many in the audience, not to mention Mike Bialyj's fellow panellists, the ConstructionSkills ad was a big mistake. Initially defending it on the basis that it was good to include a woman to promote construction, Mike conceded that he had not seen the ad before it was printed and that on reflection, it was inappropriate. He apologised.

Come on ConstructionSkills, there is little point in spending money recruiting more young people, when colleges are full and employers unwilling to give work placements. There is even less point spending money on inappropriate advertising to young women, when evidence shows that the average age of women interested in construction training is around 30.

Finally, if you are going to feature women in advertisements, please use real women working in construction, talking about what a great job it can be. As Charmaine Young, of St George Regeneration pointed out at the conference, she could have provided some great examples

Mystic McWilliams

2008-04-14T14:30:00.001+01:00

Doug McWilliams of the Centre for Economics and Business Research is that rare creature - an economist who makes the subject not only intelligible, but also entertaining. Taking his traditional lunchtime speaking spot at Simons Group annual client get-together the other day, he unabashedly acknowledged that in 2007 he failed to predict the credit squeeze. "I always thought bankers were the least credit-worthy individuals," he confessed, "but I was surprised that they wouldn't even want to lend to each other."

Doug predicted that post the Beijing Games, China would experience a slow-down, albeit with growth dropping to a still enviable 6%. The UK economy would suffer prolonged sluggish growth, rather than a recession As for UK construction, his view was a flat 2008, a flattish 2009 and a lift in 2010. Invest in high rise commercial property, came the advice - it gives plenty of scope to jump!

Women on the tools

2008-04-14T01:25:00.010+01:00

A dispiriting announcement from ConstructionSkills, which despite spending £500,000 on a dedicated recruitment drive, has failed to meet its 2007 target for attracting women and ethnic minorities into the construction trades. Last year, the national body signed up only 299 such recruits, not only way below the target of 463 but also 22% lower than the number recruited in 2006. (Building magazine, 11 April)

According to the ConstructionSkills report, part of the problem is getting employers to provide work placements for diverse recruits. This is hardly a revelation to anyone who has worked on projects to attract women into the industry. Way back in 2002 Building Work for Women (BWW)was launched to work crack the problem of getting site placements and jobs for women to complete their NVQ training– and it did just that. All bar one of the women (many of whom were from ethnic groups) were found that vital 13 weeks site experience and were offered permanent work.

Tragically, BWW came to an end with the demise of its creator Women’s Education in Building, which closed for lack of funds after 20 years of training more construction tradeswomen in its modest unit under Westway than the whole of ConstructionSkills across the UK. Just imagine what £500,000 put towards this work might have achieved.

In the meantime, Women and Manual Trades (WAMT) has picked up the baton and is reinvigorating BWW with the support of original funders the London Development Agency. Let us hope that the commitment to attracting more women is reflected more practically than paying for expensive advertisements in fashion store changing rooms.

Afterthought: If ConstructionSkills has seen a 22% drop in women and ethnic minority recruits, yet the number of tradeswomen remains at 1.3% for the second year, who is delivering apprentices in sufficient numbers to maintain that overall figure? Answers on an email please.

Breaking the mould

2008-04-11T12:23:00.012+01:00

Escaping from rain-drenched, traffic clogged Whitehall on a blustery March morning into the high colonnades of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office marked the start of a great day organised by the Financial Mail’s Women’s Forum. Up that wonderful grand staircase, (memories of Meryl Streep in the film Plenty, losing her mind before mystified diplomat husband Charles Dance), along the beautiful tesselated corridors (very tricky in stiletto heels) and into the sumptuous Locarno Suite.

There, under the glorious barrel vaulted ceiling and huge chandeliers gathered some 150 head teachers, of girls’ schools in the state and private sector, to hear leading women from business, politics and public life recount their experience of making it to the top. The topic was one close to my heart, “Are today’s bright young women getting the best career advice and achieving their potential?”

Debating the answers and more importantly, coming up with some practical ideas was the objective of Breaking the Mould, a conference organised by the Financial Mail with City of London School for Girls and St Albans Girls' School, Hertfordshire. The aim was to inject some imagination, excitement and verve into careers advice at school, and to raise the aspirations of young women heading for university and into the workplace.

Baroness Hayman, the Speaker of the House of Lords, set the scene, Theresa May swept in to deliver the pre-lunch lunchtime address and television’s Clive Anderson chaired the last afternoon session. In between the Financial Mail’s dynamic editor Lisa Buckingham encouraged spirited debate and kept a range of speakers on their toes, includingTerri Dial, group executive director of Lloyds TSB, Karen McCormick, chief executive of Cheshire Building Society and Sara Murray, MD of Buddi and founder of Confused.com.

I was the sole construction industry representative, speaking in the first session entitled Challenging the male domain. I shared the platform with three impressive and charming women: Judy Clements, director of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, Natalie Ayres, a former director of Microsoft and now an entrepreneur and Gill Evans, detective inspector from the Metropolitan Police.

What a day it was – a heady combination of entertaining tales from impressive women, lively debate, tough talk and plenty of humour – all done with great style. In the evening speakers and delegates were hosted at a reception in the House of Lords by the redoubtable and charming Lady Howells to see young winners of the Breaking the Mould competition receive their £1,000 awards. Particularly interesting were Nicola McFayden, 14, from Lanarkshire, who developed a product to prevent deep vein thrombosis and Yasmin Hilder, 13, from Cornwall, devised an ecofriendly toothbrush and 11 year old Mia Radkiewicz, from Hampshire, invented a disposable coffee cup with a temperature strip.

What next? Well, I have had three invitations to speak at girls’ schools about the construction industry and connected a head teacher with a contractor to talk about work experience and site visits. I also met a young woman who had originally trained as a motor vehicle mechanic, become a teacher of English and drama and who had volunteered as a careers teacher to ensure that pupils at her school really knew about the choices they had. So she is an ideal contact for the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET and hopefully will be supported in the work she is doing.

(Those who share my passion for historic buildings and would like to know more about the Locarno Suite and its rescue go to the FCO website.

Listen carefully - I will say zis only once....

2008-04-03T22:27:00.005+01:00

A story about George Wimpey Homes taking the novel step of banning wolf-whistling on their sites in Bristol was seized on with enthusiasm by the media today. Richard Goad, the housebuilder's sales and marketing director, announced that wolf whistling was banned on all six sites in the area and remarked, "I know lots of women don’t mind it – my wife is thrilled if she gets a whistle, and she’s not happy about me bringing this measure in – but it does make many women feel uncomfortable."

When reading the piece, a wave of deja vu washed over me. I was sure that I had heard this story before. A quick Google produced a a rush of hits - including a Woman's Hour feature back in 2001 after a couple of builders proposed to stop pursing their lips at passing women.

But one particular entry caught my eye. Splashed all over the BBC News on this very same day last year was the very same Richard Goad, announcing that wolf whistles were banned on all George Wimpey Homes sites - in South Wales. "The reality is that nowadays more and more women visit our sites looking for a new house because many are in a position to afford to buy on their own," said Mr Goad in April 2007 .

Why ban wolfwhistles across the country when you can repeat the headline every Spring - especially in a fragile market?

Building magazine
4 April 2008

Meeting and greeting

2008-03-31T02:01:00.005+01:00

Another state visit, another outbreak of official kissing. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, not known for public displays of affection, surprised us all with his determination to kiss both flawless cheeks of the President of France's new wife and former supermodel Carla Bruni last week. Whether or not Prime Minister Brown was entirely comfortable in doing so, it appears that kissing is becoming part of the day's work.

It all seemed to start back in 2004. President Bush congratulated Condoleeza Rice on her appointment as Secretary of State with a kiss on both cheeks. Two days later, he congratulated new education secretary Margaret Spelling with a kiss, but this time full on the lips. Consternation in the media and much debate about whether this famously domestic president was simply brushing up his international credentials - and just how far this enthusiasm was going.

The following year, at the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Condoleeza Rice experienced the continental panache of French President Jacques Chirac when he opted to kiss her gloved hand rather than cheek. A few weeks later, Germany's Angela Merkel received the same treatment on her first visit to France as Chancellor. Prince Charles took the hand to the lips route with Mrs Sarkozy this week too.

However, it has been reported that Merkel is less enthusiastic about Mr Sarkozy's exuberant double cheek kisses. Political people watchers have certainly noted a variety of more cautious approaches to greeting Germany's first woman head of state. Tony Blair, a one cheek kiss. Vladimir Putin, hand shake and half embrace. Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister, half embrace. Mr Harper, handshake and a pat on the shoulder. Japan's Shinzo Abe, handshake. And Mr Bush? A handshake.

The more measured approach would seem to be wise. This week businesswoman Christine Rich won £2million compensation for sexual harassment from PriceWaterhouseCoopers Australia after claiming a decade of harassment and bullying. She told the court that her boss repeatedly greeted her with a kiss, despite being told not to do so.

So I will stick to my own well established rule on the business of kissing at work, which male colleagues seem to find useful and keeps a simple level playing field in meetings. Before 6.00pm it is handshake only.

Ozzie rules

2008-03-24T18:10:00.002Z

Some houseowners in Sydney opened their eyes to a shock the other day. Their wonderful (and very valuable) views to the harbour and ocean were blocked by large shipping containers, placed there by local authority officers convinced that the trees that had previously stood on the sites had been deliberately killed.

Other houseowners faced large hoardings stating that trees had been poisoned. Unmoved by rsidents who claimed innocence, officials are applying the school principle of ‘no confession, collective punishment.’

Perhaps we could take a similar approach to developers who cut down preserved trees on prime sites and simply factor in the fine as part of enabling costs. Sinking a tall concrete pillar labelled ‘This was a tree’ might be a more effective deterrent.

Source: Daily Telegraph 24 March 2008

Down, round and under

2008-03-20T01:45:00.000Z

Television presenter Maggie Philbin is a great example of how some women find a way around the boulders that are put in their career path. Speaking at a conference in Church House, London* last month, she described how despite being deflected from a scientific career by her teachers, she found her own route.

Persuaded to study English and Drama at Manchester University, she found herself looking wistfully through the window at the medical students who congregated tantalisingly close across the campus. However, she completed her arts degree and began a career in children’s tv and radio programmes. This led to an opportunity to work on Tomorrow’s World, finding herself in her element and confounding those rash enough to take her at face value. “You’re not as stupid as you look,” was one comment. She has gone on to become a respected and successful specialist in medical matters.

The story brought back my own memories of being driven inexorably down the classics and literature route at school and fighting to take scientific subjects as well as Latin and History before finding the route into construction through journalism. Career advice seems slow to change.

* Raising the Profile of Women Scientists and Engineers within the Media: The Annual Conference of the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET. www. ukrc4setwomen.org

Reality tv?

2008-03-14T18:59:00.002Z

After hearing Dame Eliza Manningham Buller speak at the Women in Property dinner and impressed by the fact that 44% of staff at MI5 is female, I investigated further and found some food for thought.

Employment in MI5 offers particularly good social security benefits. Women who have been in MI5 for at least a year are entitled to six months maternity leave on full pay. As well as a further six months - half on statutory maternity pay, half on additional unpaid maternity leave - women in MI5 can have another year on unpaid special leave, making two years in total. Fathers get two weeks paternity leave on full pay.

Yet whilst the number of applicants in general to MI5 has risen in the past two years, as well as the numbers employed, the number of women applicants has fallen from a half to one third and the number of women employed has fallen from more than 50% to 44%.

In an effort to stop this downward trend, a female oriented advertising campaign in gyms and sports clubs was run, as well as national media advertising and links from the BBC Spooks website to the recruitment department at MI5… which may explain the turnoff.

Despite a particularly grisly episode of the popular espionage series resulting in some 11,500 applications to join the service, some MI5 officials believe that Spooks may have contributed to the significant fall in the number of women applying to join the agency. Certainly Dame Eliza has publicly expressed concern about the violent and macho culture depicted in the the programme. "We want to attract more females but the Spooks programme may be having a bad effect because of the way some of the female characters have been killed off," an intelligence source has said.

After hearing all the reasons why we need more women role models in tv drama and the media at the annual conference of the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET, one can’t help thinking of the old proverb "Be careful what you wish."

Mind you, working in the construction and property sectors where women represent just 10% of the workforce, concern about a fall from 50% to 44% is a problem some of us wouldn’t mind having.

Flight of fancy

2008-03-12T20:24:00.005Z

Heard the best joke of the year, at the UK Resource Centre for Women’s 4th Annual Conference, in Church House, Central London. Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark recounted hearing a female pilot welcoming passengers on board her flight from Scotland the evening before. The next announcement came from the co-pilot - also a woman.

Kirsty asked the senior stewardess if she could go into the cockpit and meet them. "I’m sure they’d be delighted to speak to you," came the response, "but in this team, we don’t call it the cockpit."

The theme of the conference was Raising the Profile of Women Scientists and Engineers within the Media.

More information: http://www.ukrc4setwomen.org/html/news-and-events/ukrc-conferences/2008-conference

Shaken not stirred - meeting the real M

2008-02-20T23:45:00.002Z

Only a handful of us arriving at the RIBA for the Annual Dinner of the South East branch of Women in Property knew who the guest speaker for the evening was – and when we found out, the reason for secrecy became clear. Dame Eliza Manningham Buller, who retired as Director General of MI5 in 2005, took the stage to describe her extraordinary career in the Secret Service, which began after a chance meeting at a drinks party when she was working as an English teacher after graduating from Oxford.

An expert in counter-terrorism, she was involved in the Lockerbie investigation, served as MI5's liaison officer in Washington and became director of counter-terrorism in Ireland, spearheading the fight against the Provisional IRA.

One of her achievements as Director General at MI5 was to open up the traditional covert recruitment network that had led to her own career path. Dame Eliza established a website and recruited agents through newspaper advertisements. Staff numbers increased from 1,800 to nearly 3,500, but despite the pace set by such great change at a time of high national security, she developed a reputation for taking time to recognise personally achievements by individuals and the pressures of the job. She fostered a number of programmes around staff recruitment, training and development to ensure that all officers have the opportunity to flourish.

She also took a higher personal profile than her predecessors – although declaring on retirement that she would not write her memoirs. She allowed terror risk assessments to be made public for the first time., revealing that five major conspiracies had been thwarted since the July 2005 bombs in London, and that there were investigations into some 200 networks involving 1,600 people and as many as thirty specific plots.

Responding to the inevitable question about the accuracy of tv programmes, she said that real life espionage is hard work governed by the need to work within rules, not like Spooks, "where everything is solved by half a dozen people who break endless laws to achieve these results in one episode."

Her dedication to serving her country is transparent, as is her talent as a leader and motivator. It was a privilege and pleasure not only to hear, but also share a table with a woman demonstrating such a rare combination of intellect, professionalism and warmth.

More information about Women in Property and in particular a follow-up event to Dame Eliza Manningham Buller’s speech go to: http://www.wipnet.org/branches/southeast/events.php

Another top woman at the International Construction Superconference

2006-03-10T18:02:00.000Z

The impressive line-up of women speakers taking part in the 4th International Construction Superconference in London in May 2006 had a further boost this week with the announcement that Ambassador Donna Hrinak of Steel Hector Davis is joining the panel for the innovative business session The Changing Face of International Construction. Ambassador Hrinak brings many years of diplomatic experience in the Americas, including Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and a particular knowledge of government relations, contracts and procurement.

Ambassador Hrinak will join Nadia Riffat, Head of Planning at the Municipality of Tripoli, Birgitte Brinch Madsen, who is Director of the Danish firm COWIconsult’s new energy division in China and Faith Wainwright, director of Arup in London.

Business session chair Sandi Rhys Jones of ICONdirect says, "I am delighted to have the opportunity of bringing together such a powerful group of women to debate the challenges and risks of the global market place in construction and development. It promises to be a fascinating business session."

Particular thanks go to conference sponsors Women in Business International.
Read about our panellists Ambassador Donna Hrinak Birgitte Brinch Madsen Faith Wainwright Sandi Rhys Jones

Read more about the International Construction Superconference here.