APPG for SMEs launches women in housebuilding initiative

A cross-party forum supporting SME housebuilders has launched a campaign aimed to increase the number of women in housebuilding.

The I am a Housebuilder initiative, by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for SME Housebuilders, has been launched to coincide with Women’s History Month this month and improve the representation of women in SME housebuilding businesses. The APPG said that out of the 2,000 SME housebuilders in existence today, it was believed that less than 2% are owned and led by women.

And according to Statista Figures on construction in the UK, Q4 2023, there are just 297,000 women working in construction across the UK, compared to 1.8 million men. ONS figures from 2022 show that only 1% of women work as a skilled trades professional.

The APPG’s initiative has been established by APPG chair Andrew Lewer MBE, Conservative MP for Northampton South and Edwin de Silva, the APPG’s secretariat and co-chair for the Regional Builders Hub Steering Group in support of the King’s Foundation.

Seven female SME housebuilding founders and managing directors will lead the campaign - Charlotte Edwards, md of Dennis Edwards Homes, who spoke at the HBF’s Future …