HomeHigh Speed RailHS2 apprentice flies the flag for International Women's Day

HS2 apprentice flies the flag for International Women’s Day

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Nineteen-year-old Lisa-Marie from London is defying gender biases. As a civil engineering apprentice she was flying the flag for women and girls working in the construction sector to mark International Women’s Day.

Lisa-Marie joined Mace in September 2020. She’s now part of the team tasked with delivering HS2’s station at London Euston.

She drew inspiration from London’s architecture when deciding on her career pathway and from an early age was fascinated at how unimaginable design concepts turned to reality.

Lisa-Marie studied hard to follow her dream of becoming a civil engineer and secured three A-Levels in Mathematics, Physics and Geography. Her drive and academic success led to her securing her degree-level apprenticeship and within weeks of joining, she became part of the Mace team designing and building Britain’s new railway.

“The opportunity to work on Europe’s biggest engineering project and transform Euston Station ready for HS2’s arrival is beyond what I ever imagined would be possible at such an early stage in my career,” said Lisa-Marie.

HS2 is striving to address the gender imbalance inherent across the construction and rail engineering sector and is inspiring young people to take an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects and careers through its education programmes. Engineering UK’s 2018 report found that less than 12.5% of the engineering workforce is female and HS2 hopes that more young women will be inspired to follow in Lisa-Marie’s footsteps.

Lisa-Marie added, “The best thing about my job is that I’m building myself a meaningful career. Railways and bridges get us everywhere we need to go and help create communities where everyone can thrive. It’s incredible to physically see that you have built something new, which will be around for many generations to come, and that’s something I’m really proud of.”

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