A coalition of leading organisations from across Ireland’s built environment sector has launched Constructing Equality Ireland. This new industry-led initiative, facilitated by Business in the Community Ireland, aims to accelerate progress on gender equality and increase women’s representation at all levels across the construction industry.
Constructing Equality Ireland
Established by founding partners from across the construction sector, Constructing Equality Ireland will bring organisations together to develop practical, evidence-based solutions that collaboratively increase the attraction, retention and progression of women. The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) and Women in Construction Ireland (WICI) back the initiative and sit alongside the founding partners on its steering group.
While individual organisations have made important progress in recent years, women remain significantly underrepresented across the sector. Recent data highlights the scale of the challenge, with women accounting for just 10.9% of the construction workforce in Ireland, while holding only 9.1% of board positions and 15.2% of senior leadership roles across the sector.
Recognising that many of the barriers facing women in construction are shared across the industry and cannot be solved by organisations acting alone, Constructing Equality Ireland will take a collaborative approach, bringing together industry expertise, lived experience and evidence to identify practical actions that can drive meaningful and lasting change.
Initial pilot programme
As an initial pilot programme, Constructing Equality Ireland will host a series of industry roundtables focused on early career recruitment and the retention of women in construction. Open to organisations of all sizes across the built environment sector, these discussions will inform the development of an industry-wide gender equality action plan, providing practical and scalable actions that organisations can adopt regardless of their size, resources or level of maturity. The first roundtable will be held on 06 October 2026, and more details will be released soon.
Business in the Community Ireland
Tomás Sercovich, CEO of Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI), remarked: “At a time when the built environment sector is growing and infrastructure projects are becoming more ambitious, we cannot afford to leave half of our population behind and excluded from the immense and diverse employment opportunities available. BITCI is privileged to bring its expertise to facilitate a multi-sector collective action campaign to truly move the dial and make fulfilling careers a reality for women in the built environment sector. Coalitions like these require significant leadership and long-term perspective, and we commend the founding partners for their ambition, innovation and systemic approach.”
Challenges facing women in construction
Amy Martin, EDI Partner, Sisk and Chair of Constructing Equality Ireland, said: “As a woman working in construction, I’ve experienced first-hand the progress our industry has made and the barriers that still exist. Many of the challenges facing women in construction are not unique to one organisation. They are shared across our industry, and lasting change will only happen when we move beyond isolated efforts and work together. It requires collaboration, commitment and action.
“Constructing Equality Ireland creates a platform for collective action, bringing organisations together to share experiences, turn shared challenges into shared solutions, and accelerate progress for women across the built environment. No single organisation has all the answers, but together we have an opportunity to drive meaningful and lasting change for the future of our industry.”
Construct Industry Federation
Andrew Brownlee, Chief Executive, CIF, highlighted, “Building a more diverse construction industry is essential to attracting the talent, skills and leadership Ireland will need to deliver its future housing and infrastructure. While progress is being made, the continued underrepresentation of women across the sector shows that no organisation can address this challenge in isolation.
“Constructing Equality Ireland provides an important platform for industry to work collectively, share evidence and develop practical actions that support women to enter, remain and progress within construction. CIF is pleased to support this initiative and looks forward to helping ensure that the resulting Gender Equality Action Plan is relevant, scalable and capable of being implemented by businesses of every size across the sector.”
Constructing Equality Ireland founding partners
Constructing Equality Ireland’s founding partners are AstraZeneca, Bord Gáis Energy, Designer Group, Dornan Engineering, John Paul Construction, John Sisk & Son, Jones Engineering, Kirby Group Engineering, Turner & Townsend and Walls Construction.