Additionally Justyna has been nominated in the ‘Personality of the Year’ category, where she is one of five finalists from a shortlist of 34. We sat down with her to find out more about what the nominations mean to her and her experiences working within the industry.
What do the nominations meant to you?
This was the first contest that I’ve entered and it was an honour to be nominated. We have a lot of brilliant women at Gleeds Polska, all of whom are constantly innovating within our business. This is something new for me, and it was a great pleasure to be chosen.
Tell us a bit more about your work in green construction
At Gleeds Polska we use an array of sustainability assessments including BREEM and LEED, certifying a wide range of projects such as hotels, schools, offices. We are working on lots of green solutions and green ideas that we’re trying to bring to other buildings and projects. In addition, we host workshops with our technical staff and other businesses working in the construction industry to share best practice in areas such as sustainability solutions, building life cycle cost, and impact on the environment.
How has the experience of women within the construction industry changed in your time working within it?
When I started working as an engineer on site almost 12 years ago it was extremely difficult from many reasons - there were not many women at all. Since then a lot of things have changed and right now I am working on two projects where the project managers are woman.
There are lots of positive changes taking every day. As women we still have a lot of work to do to convert negative stereotypes into an understanding of the phenomenal things that we are capable of.
