Catriona Gray is a director at CDA, as the first female and youngest director in the company, she has overcome many obstacles in her career to now co-lead the residential team within the company designing several award winning schemes within the practice including the first BTR development within Scotland.

Within the practice Catriona set up the ‘CDA Initiative’ with the goal of engage, encourage and empower to actively work to create a positive culture. Through the themes of team, community and network, all members of staff at all levels were encouraged to take part.  By enabling the members of staff, we were able to support numerous charities through fundraising events, increase our work experience placements for young people and set up training for staff members particularly in sustainability courses when they voiced an interest in the subject.

Catriona is key in organising regular staff reviews, ensuring all know they have a voice and a safe space to highlight any queries and concerns they may have.  This is something which was implemented originally during the COVID-19 pandemic where she ensured monthly chats were held with all staff to boost morale despite the isolation between all.  She is a key proponent of our graduate students and has set up a task force which allows them to help shape the company and provide valuable input to the office and how it is run.  From this the students are now involved in running the social elements within the office, set up new staff rooms in in the now defunct print rooms, involved in creating social media and part of our sustainable strategy group.  This strategy helps to provide confidence to our students and is a large part of why many of our students return to us following completion of their studies and become full time employees.

Outside of the practice, Catriona is a member of Women In Property and is part of their schools outreach programme.  Through this programme she attends schools at primary, secondary and tertiary levels and engages them through workshops highlighting the whole construction industry and the opportunities for them in the future. These range from building lego houses with 5 year olds to designing primary schools with older students leading them from initial concept to completion. Expanding on this Catriona is now involved with several schools independently where she provides career advice to pupils and attends career fairs.

Zoe Brooke is founder and CEO of the Save Construction Initiative, a non-profit organisation that aims to improve sustainability and protect jobs in the construction industry.

The initiative was established due to an unprecedented number of construction-related insolvencies in the Northwest. Having observed friends, colleagues, and acquaintances lose their careers, she set about seeking the root causes of such catastrophic failures to prevent further disruption to the sector and preserve jobs.

Zoe is no stranger to taking the lead and has a natural ability to cultivate enthusiasm from like-minded people to achieve great outcomes.

Having worked in construction for over 30 years, she understands the challenges the sector faces. She has been a volunteer enterprise advisor for GMCA for 5 years and led the Liverpool City Region committee for Constructing Excellence 9 years, growing its membership and disseminating government policy.

Since 2020, she has assembled a committee of equally-passionate construction professionals and forged collaborative relationships between professional bodies such as the Manchester Society of Architects, RICS, CIOB, and CIBSE to ensure every facet of the industry is being represented.

From a standing start, the initiative is now recognised as a people-centred movement and an education enabler that simultaneously carries out industry research.

Zoe and the committee have hosted events that are reflective of current industry practices, innovations, regulation, and legislation and about to release a series of leadership & management training courses aimed at creating organisational resilience. Her focus has been aligned to the priorities of the GM Mayoral report to prevent insolvency, mitigate high rates of suicide, tackle mental health, and skills shortage and on average have 70-100 organisations are regularly in attendance.

Her tenacity to create positive change within the construction industry is paying off. She’s got the biggest and most-influential names in the region throwing their weight behind the Save Construction Initiative.

Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram are supporting the latest campaign “Not just men and muddy boots” to be released in May that will address the skill shortage, attract young talent into the construction sector and those looking to make a career transition, especially NEETS and long-term unemployed.

Zoe and her initiative lead positive change within construction for the betterment of its people, their livelihoods, and their futures.

In addition to the Save Construction Initiative, Zoe is a former director of an established main contractor and now Managing Director of her own construction consultancy business – Ezrah Consulting.

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Associate Architect, Lee Holmes, exemplifies the ethics and values of DB3 Group and those upheld by UKREiiF. His dedication to mentoring aspiring architects and promoting work placements showcases his passion for cultivating and supporting young talent in the field.

Through his active involvement with Leeds Beckett University’s Speed Mentoring programme, an architectural student secured work experience at DB3 and was subsequently interviewed for a part 1 position. His involvement in the RIBA Future Architects initiative reflects his commitment to creating a network and community for emerging architects. This is further underlined both by his participation in the interviewing process of part 1 and 2 architecture students and fostering the growth of aspiring architects by actively facilitating a support network across DB3’s seven studios, through the DB3 Academy.

Lee recognises the barriers faced by underrepresented groups in architecture. He is in initial talks with Regeneration Brainery and Leeds City Council to support and mentor those who are, historically, less likely to be involved in the field.

Lee’s approach to mentoring reflects his dedication and passion for the industry. He emphasises guidance and support over dictation, saying “the best mentors are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.” For 20+ years’ Lee has mentored over 25 architecture students, enabling them to recognise and overcome obstacles, establish accessible pathways, celebrate achievements, and advance their careers.

Lee’s proficiency in modular construction design is evident in his role as a project architect for the Leeds City College Printworks Technology Building teaching accommodation. Throughout the project he mentored a part 2 student, resulting in an exceptional outcome that has positively influenced the educational experience of students in Leeds. The modern and state-of-the-art facilities have been instrumental in improving the learning environment, as evidenced by the testimonials included in the supporting document.

In conclusion, Lee’s exemplary contributions to the industry through his commitment to career growth and mentoring make him an outstanding candidate for the UKREiiF People and Skills Torchbearer Award. His dedication to making the industry more accessible and inclusive sets a high standard for others to follow, and we are honoured to have him as a member of our team.

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Lee Holmes.pdf

In 2017 Pooja co-founded Public Practice with Finn Williams and now – as CEO – she is making a major impact, probably the most significant that I can think of in our industry.

She set out to improve the quality and equality of the built environment by placing experts within the public sector – and I’ve now lost count on how many successful secondments she’s been able to secure.

This has led to better quality design and social equality. She has enabled the public sector to be equipped with multi-disciplinary and creative skills from the private sector to redefine the future of work, adapt our local high streets and reach carbon-zero targets.

Over 90% of associates have stayed in the public sector beyond the end of their placement meaning crucial skills are being taught in the private sector and then kept within the public sector where there is often concern that the skills aren’t there due to resource issues.

There is now a desire to expand this nationally and it would be great to have Pooja and the work she’s done celebrated at UKREiiF in front of a national audience.

She has just secured a £1m government fund to help accelerate the great activity being done to help with this expansion.

She has also been at the forefront of this sector for a while – such as co-hosting the diversity platform Sound Advice, mentor at the Stephen Lawrence Trust and being an associate at the Quality of Life Foundation.

PlanBEE (Plan for Built Environment Education) is an award winning higher apprenticeship programme conceived by Mark Thompson, Managing Partner of Ryder Architecture in Newcastle in 2016 and now operating successfully in north east England and Manchester, with a London launch planned for 2023. PlanBEE arose from a compelling need to address the existing compartmentalised approach to built environment education, to offer a broader, inclusive, integrated and collaborative education to young people, through a combination of practical work experience, formal study, professional mentoring, site visits and technical challenges.

The programme is multidisciplinary, with emphasis on industry focussed experience through rotational placements with the sponsor employers and includes topic areas highly relevant to the future of the industry, including MMC, net zero, retrofit, building safety and digital.

Under Mark’s leadership and in partnership with Gateshead College, PlanBEE operates with a consortium of over 40 employer sponsors, representing all professional disciplines including architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, contractors and other specialists who collectively recognise the need to transform traditional education to meet the changing demand for a more flexible, adaptable and technologically skilled workforce.

Due to Mark’s tenacity and the support of industry sponsors, PlanBEE has been an overwhelming success. In the four years to August 2022, 54 apprentices have graduated from the programme, with 98.1% advancing to successful careers in the built environment, either directly into employment with sponsors or into higher education including degree apprenticeships in architecture, engineering and construction management and quantity surveying.

The programme continues to expand, with more sponsors and supporters, enabling cohort size to increase from ten students to 15+ per region in 2022. Furthermore, in 2022-23 alone there were 33 new starters including 18 from the North East and 15 in Manchester, with a cohort of 20 planned for London this year.

The collaborative networks that have come together to create PlanBEE have created lasting change and real impacts for young people in our regions and for the wider built environment. The programme has successfully delivered over 500 industry placements, with apprentices experiencing four months with each sponsor employer. In 2022-23 so far there have been 150 industry placements. The programme prides itself on a 100% pass rate in the new apprenticeship EPAs in 2021-22. This highlights Mark’s role in the success of this highly innovative, relevant and affordable programme which has addressed the real needs of industry and led to rewarding careers for our young people.

Lucinda Yeadon leads CEG’s Forging Futures Campus, a collaboration which mentors, supports, empowers and educates hard-to-reach groups including young people, women, those with disabilities or out of education or employment and care leavers, setting up fantastic outreach programmes with like-minded partners.

During 2022 and 2023 she has been involved in the following initiatives:

• Opening a new Forging Futures skills and learning campus (FFC) in September 2022 – working with partners Icon Group, Skill Mill, River Stewardship Company and Enable Futures to educate, mentor and support young people into the built environment sector. 

• Working with the Skill Mill to provide site experience, support and funding for young ex-offenders to gain on and off-site experience as a prelude to apprenticeships and employment. Since launch this has achieved 50% progression rate to training, apprenticeships and jobs, 90% reduction of reoffending and circa £250,000 of beneficial work delivered on site and in the local community through landscaping, graffiti removal to clearing unwanted vegetation.

• Supporting, training initiatives for 16 – 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training, helping more than 80 individuals graduate with around 70% achieving a positive outcome going on to further training, education and apprenticeships.   

• As a person born with a disability, Lucinda understands the importance of representation. She campaigns to open the industry and has worked with the FRC team to deliver specialist schemes for young people with learning disabilities from MENCAP and SEN schools and continues to encourage those living with disabilities to participate in FFC courses.

• Inside and outside working hours, Lucinda attends careers fayres, mentoring sessions, site visits, workplace engagement, CV workshops and mock interviews within schools, colleges and universities.

• Learning from the challenges in the pandemic, Lucinda appointed partner Icon Group to assist in developing a digital learning programme supporting groups such as Mencap, SMBP and the Skill Mill in employability and skills training. Modules include asbestos awareness, health and safety, CV workshops, interview skills and resilience and help towards the CSCS card. The programme has been developed to allow for learners of all ages.

• A torchbearer for getting more women into the built environment sector, Lucinda has facilitated round table events and site visits for young women on International Women’s day and at UKREIIF working closely with local schools and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP.