The BUILDhers is on

The BUILDhers is on.

New Zealand’s first female-led home building project achieved a major step on the 24^th of August with a celebration for the completion of the groundwork at Samuel Marsden Drive, Whenuapai.

A crowd of over 60 people attended the launch event - including many of the talented female crew who have been involved so far. From the planning and architectural team to the female surveyors, structural engineers, plumbers, and electricians. 

While everyone enjoyed a coffee and a bite, and news cameras rolled, the message of the importance of encouraging more women to join the building workforce was made clear by Aurelie Le Gall, Branch Manager, Fletcher Living, Auckland North.

“We want to see more women in the construction industry, we want to inspire more young women into the trades and this project is the first step to igniting that inspiration.” Aurelie told the gathered crowd.

 
Tougher than you think.

Like all projects, what looks easy on paper is often tougher in reality. Finding the female trades, qualified and available to work on the project was no walk in the park. Jasmin Lawrence, Project Manager, and in charge of pulling the crew together explains.

“First of all, there are no special favours with this project. It must come in on time and on budget just like any other Fletcher Living build. There are roughly 15% of women in the construction industry, and of them only 3.8% on the tools.

So finding qualified female tradies – the plumbers, the sparkies, the builders has been a challenge and that really just highlights the desperate need for more women in the industry. We want to beat the bias and move forward to a future with more women in construction.” Says Jasmin.

This has meant that while the BUILDhers project is totally female led, there have been areas where male colleagues have supported the team – from supervision to health and safety and spotting on site.  

Ready by January.

With the foundation work complete, the BUILDhers project will start moving at speed with the frames being delivered in early September. From then on, the build will progress like any Fletcher Living home – only this time every step will be captured on specially installed time-lapse cameras. 

“You can go the BUILDhers website and watch the progress as this majestic two-storey, 4 bedroom, standalone home comes together. It will have all the quality you’d expect from Fletcher Living with enduring materials, clever design, top brand appliances and some special architectural features.” Says Anisha Bhattacharya, Design and Planning Manager.

Join the BUILDhers team.

It’s not too late to get involved in this inspiring BUILDhers project if you have skills you can bring to the build. Contact Jasmin Lawrence by emailing buildhers@frl.co.nz or visit www.buildhers.co.nz to follow the project journey.