Member Article

Women in Engineering: Real Stories

Maybe you could say it was in the blood. Her dad was a builder. Her uncle too.

But Geraldine Fleming’s interest in a future career in the construction industry was really sparked by the target of her father’s frustration one family teatime.

She remembers: “Dad was a foreman at Wimpey. He came home this particular evening ranting about quantity surveyors, and removing his more colourful choice of language said, ‘they earn a load of money and they get company cars!’

I leant forward and said, “That sounds fantastic, I want to be a quantity surveyor!”

With that career carrot of cash and a car dangling over her, Geraldine set about achieving her goal. During her A levels, she undertook work experience at Alfred McAlpine, and then studied at Leeds Metropolitan University to become a quantity surveyor.

She obtained summer holiday work at Balfour Beatty, worked for them during her year out and was sponsored by Balfour Beatty during her Quantity Surveying degree. She subsequently moved to Knowles (now HKA) and for more than 20 years has worked on the contractual side of claims consulting. She is now a Partner at HKA, a world leader in construction claims and dispute resolution consultancy services, based in Warrington.

Maybe her family background helped, but the male-dominated world of construction has never held any fears. If anything, it has helped to provide her with some great anecdotes. “I was working on a building site in the centre of Manchester and the health and safety officer came over to me and said ‘we’ve got a problem – we’ve got no female toilets on site.

“I said I know – I don’t need a female toilet, there are public toilets just around the corner. But he said he had to order one and this “tardis-like” police box thing arrived on site.

“I personally never used it. Can you imagine the fun the guys on site would have had taking it in turns to give it a good old shake?!”

Geraldine is adamant that getting her wellies muddy as well as passing the relevant exams helped her to reach her career goals.

“Too many people don’t go and get the professional qualifications. Having an A Level in law and getting my RICS enabled me to get the job I am doing today. “I couldn’t do the job I’ve got now without having had the extensive site experience I got at Balfour Beatty.”

It’s a varied role and includes providing contractual advice, as well as the more adversarial elements of trying to avoid and resolve disputes.

But for Geraldine the real personal satisfaction comes on the one day a week she is able to put all that accumulated knowledge to good use lecturing or presenting at seminars.

“Delivering seminars is fantastic as is reading the feedback forms, with comments such as ‘that was the best session I have ever attended - you made the subject come to life.’ “I regularly have delegates contacting me after the event and say ‘Your seminar was absolutely fantastic. I’ve got this issue and I don’t know what to do next…’ – and so I then work with them to assist with the issues they’re having on their current projects.” Diplomacy is a key skill in any contractual negotiation – maybe Geraldine has picked up some tips at home, as an Everton supporting construction contracts expert married to a Manchester United mad architect.

When it comes to ambitions, the home front features too. “From a professional perspective, I am a chartered quantity surveyor and member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS), and the next step is to obtain my fellowship, so that’s on my ‘to do list’.

“But getting my own construction project at home underway and completed is another.

“We have a Victorian semi-detached which is in need of repair. Discussing how, when and where and being married to an architect, who are not exactly known for their cost saving approach, has its moments!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jo Leah .