Engineering news
Employees from leading engineering and construction companies took part in the Pride in London Parade on Saturday to champion lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion.
Companies Arcadis, Arup, Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Laing O'Rourke, Lend Lease, Mott Macdonald, Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, Skanska, and WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff marched under the collective banner of #BuildingEquality.
Mark Naysmith, UK chief operating officer of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, said: “It is only through raising awareness and education that our industry can up its game in supporting diversity, LGBT issues and gender equality.
“Whilst we have made great strides in recent years there is still more that can be done, and our new employee-led ‘VIBE network’ is a great next step for promoting inclusion and ensuring that all our people feel comfortable in the workplace.”
Meanwhile, InterEngineering – supported by Balfour Beatty, SPIE and Amec Foster Wheeler – also joined the parade.
Last year was the first time an engineering or construction firm marched at Pride in London and since then there has been a visible increase in LGBT awareness and inclusion in the engineering and construction sector.
Industry wide networks, Off Site and InterEngineering, have steadily grown and a large number of companies have signed up as Stonewall Diversity Champions. For the first time ever, there was an engineering and construction presence at Student Pride in February 2016, the largest LGBT careers fair in the UK.