Category Archives: News

International Women in Engineering Day 2021, taking place on Wednesday 23rd June, is an international awareness day to support, inspire, celebrate and raise the profile of women in engineering. It is an opportunity to draw attention to the careers in engineering for young people and to celebrate the achievements of women engineers.

The theme for 2021 is Engineering Heroes! This year we are celebrating the amazing work that women engineers around the world are doing, and not just to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic but also to support lives and livelihoods every day. 

Engineering heroes at JCA

To celebrate the International Women in Engineering Day, we asked a few of our female colleagues working across the business in different roles about their experiences in the engineering/maintenance industry. 

Pippa Dimsdale, Contracts Manager:

“As a woman rising through the ranks in a “male dominated industry”, I have been pleasantly surprised by how accepting my male peers have been and how they have aided me to achieve success. I don’t feel like being a woman has hindered me in anyway, if anything, it encouraged me to work harder and show the industry that woman can offer so much with the right training and knowledge.

I would encourage any young females considering a role in the industry to take the jump as the rewards of working in a fast-paced, ever developing industry far outweigh any challenges!”

Tina McGennity, H&S Manager:

“I work on a number of construction and maintenance sites. Construction has always been considered ‘a male dominated’ environment but working at JCA, who employ two female Health & Safety managers, I am treated with respect and equality by everyone within the company, our contractors and clients.

In 2018 I won the SHP Biggest Impact Award for Health and Safety. This proves that women can excel in the industry and you can achieve your goals through hard work, dedication and commitment.”

Kirsty Eyles, Stock Controller and Senior Water Supervisor:

“Being the only female JCA engineer at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital presents a great challenge and opportunity to break into a field underrepresented by women. Engineering is fun, challenging, innovative and fast-moving. It is about seeing a problem and being creative about solving it, then working together as a team to get the job done. It is about trying it out, and then pushing your idea that bit further…

I would encourage women who dare to take up a challenge and win, to risk entering a men dominated career field. In my experience, women often think they cannot do certain technical tasks when faced with something they have never done before, while men assume they can. When I look around me, I see women engineers in many fields: mechanical, electrical, structural, materials, software… Anything is possible.”

Isabel Mcquillan, Quantity Surveyor:

“For the early years of my commercial career there were very few women, but I believe this encouraged me to work harder, to be stronger and to achieve great things. In my position I am client facing, and contract administering with the supply chain and I do not feel any prejudice from any party for being female especially during my time with JCA. I truly feel appreciated for my abilities as a Quantity Surveyor and respected as an equal with all my teams. I would encourage more women to enter the construction sector because it can be quite rewarding and is a very friendly environment. The stigma of a ‘male dominated’ industry is fast changing. I like being part of that evolution.” 

Jess Smith, Marketing and Bids Coordinator:

“Being a woman today is more powerful than ever, and having so many inspiring women around makes it all the easier to settle into environments that are typically seen as “male dominant”. We currently have so many talented and skilled women working at JCA, from administrators, the legal team, engineers, managers, and more! I feel so inspired working amongst a fantastic group of people, and speak for many others at JCA when I say that being a woman does not hinder our work or the way we work. We are valued and respected in the same way anyone else is and I am grateful to be part of this team. Engineering may be seen as a “masculine environment”, but this is just a perception and there are so many great opportunities for us!”  

To find out more about International Women in Engineering Day 2021, visit their website: http://www.inwed.org.uk/  

To get involved on Twitter, search hashtags #INWED21 and #EngineeringHeroes 

Want to know more about what it’s like to work for JCA? Read our employees’ testimonials here and find out more about what JCA stands for here.

International Women in Engineering Day is organised by the Women’s Engineering Society, an English charity, founded in 1919. WES has worked tirelessly for over a hundred years to ensure equality for women in engineering. Today WES’ mission is to support women in engineering to fulfil their potential and support the engineering industry to be inclusive. 

1. Women: Support women to achieve their potential as engineers, applied scientists and leaders and to reward excellence. 
2. Education: Encourage and promote the education, study and application of engineering. 
3. Sustainability: Work with organisations and influencers to promote gender diversity and equality in the workplace and sustain the historic legacy and future effectiveness of the Women’s Engineering Society. 

To find out more about WES and the work they do, head over to their website. 

Stress Awareness Month has been held every April since 1992 to increase public awareness about both the causes and cures for our modern stress epidemic.   

The past months have brought many additional challenges to our already stressful lives: prolonged working from home, going to work with the worry of catching the virus, adapting to schooling children from home with little contact from teachers and friends; and for people with mental health conditions, many experiencing even greater social isolation than before.  Recent research identified that 65% of people in the UK have felt more stressed since the COVID-19 restrictions began in March 2020.  The three key causes for concern are feelings of disconnection, uncertainty, and a worrying loss of control.  

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope. Almost one in five adults (19.2%) were likely to be experiencing some form of depression during the coronavirus pandemic in June 2020; this had almost doubled from around 1 in 10 (9.7%) before the pandemic (July 2019 to March 2020). 

Why is it so important to recognise stress?    

Millions of us around the UK are experiencing high levels of stress and it is damaging our health. Stress is one of the great public health challenges of our time, but it still isn’t being taken as seriously as physical health concerns.   

Stress is a significant factor in mental health problems including anxiety and depression. It is also linked to physical health problems like heart disease, problems with our immune system, insomnia and digestive problems. Individually, we need to understand what is causing us personal stress and learn what steps we can take to reduce it for ourselves and those around us. 

Wellbeing at the core 

JCA values the health and wellbeing of all our employees and recognises that balancing everyday life together with the requirements of work and home can create pressure for everyone. We aim to establish a positive health and wellbeing culture that includes awareness, understanding, effective processes and positive behaviour by employees at all levels. We fully recognise that mental and physical health and wellbeing are equally important and that work can have a potential impact on both. 

Trained to help 

We take a “we’re in this together” approach – everyone has their part to play in ensuring that support can be accessed as needed, with dedicated support roles available. We have mental aid first aiders who are trained in mental health awareness and can support mental ill health and offer sign posted support. A number of our senior managers and line managers have also attended ‘Line Manager Mental Health Awareness Training’ run by Mind. This training aims to provide line managers with a better understanding of the impact of stress and mental health difficulties and the confidence to manage mental health in the workplace, which promotes wellbeing and understanding across the teams and reduces perceived stigma when discussing mental health issues. 

Talking about mental health at work can be daunting: people may worry about how they will be treated and how their colleagues will react. We therefore invited JCA employees across the business to volunteer to become Health and Wellbeing Champions. Our Champions help implement and support JCA’s wellbeing and mental health programme through raising awareness of wellbeing, promoting healthy lifestyles and positive mental health. Every Champion attended an internationally recognised training course ‘Mental Health Champions’, accredited by Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). 

Internal engagement

The ongoing pandemic and working from home mean that our staff are often unable to see and talk to colleagues that they would normally catch up with in our offices. To provide them with an opportunity to talk to people across the business, we have organised weekly #HaveaTeaBreak video meetings open to anyone to drop in and have a chat with their colleagues about anything but work.

We have also launched an internal virtual JCA Running Club, a community of JCA employees to support and motivate each other to engage in outdoor physical exercise, be it running, walking or cycling.

External programmes 

As part of our commitment to health and wellbeing of our staff, we have implemented an Employee Assistance Programme, delivered by an independent external organisation, which provides confidential support and guidance relating to personal issues via telephone and online advice, support and counselling services. The services include help with home and work life, physical and emotional health, wellbeing resources, self-help programmes, webinars and other. 

Stress Awareness Month at JCA 

Internally, over the month of April we will be sharing with our staff all the ways that can help reduce stress from physical exercise and getting a good night sleep to organising workload to mindfulness. We have also arranged for special packs containing Mind UK’s practical tips and other helpful information on how to manage stress at work to be posted to every employee.  

To find out more about Stress Awareness Month, visit stress.org.uk

World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development is celebrated on 4th March every year as a UNESCO international day of celebration of engineers and engineering. 

The day offers an opportunity to highlight engineers and engineering’s achievements in our modern world and improve public understanding of how engineering and technology are central to modern life and for sustainable development.  

The celebration of World Engineering Day is also about promoting engineering as a career and how it is an opportunity to change the world for better. 

“Engineers aren’t very good at articulating the value of engineering and the impact that engineers and engineering have on society. This is a wonderful opportunity to talk about these aspects and engage the community in the work of engineers”, said Dr. Marlene Kanga, the Past President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations. 

World Engineering Day 2021

This year, the World Engineering Day (WED2021), with the theme “Engineering for A Healthy Planet – Celebrating the UNESCO Engineering Report”, will focus on celebrating the launch of the 2nd UNESCO Engineering Report “Engineering for Sustainable Development: Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals”. 

The report, officially published on 4th March, highlights the crucial role of engineering in delivering the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, shows how inclusive and gender equitable engineering profession can bring about new perspectives and thus respond to the shortage of engineers, showcases of engineering innovations for implementation of the SDGs, analyses the progresses in and challenges in engineering education and capacity building, and summarizes the regional trends of engineering development. Finally, it gives recommendations for developing engineering for the SDGs, and calls for global cooperation with multiple stakeholders to promote development of engineering for the SDGs.   

Building a sustainable future at JCA

At JCA, we are building a positive sustainable business that contributes towards our community by creating environmental and social value, as well as contributing to the broader societies in which we work.

Energy efficiency

We are deeply involved in ensuring that sustainability is embedded in everything we do. We develop programmes to ensure our business, employees and supply chain are sustainably competent and are committed to ensure we meet and exceed legal and ethical requirements. Our teams are driven to continually improve sustainable performance through control / improvement programmes.

We believe in incorporating energy efficient technology into all our projects and can help decide what options will make a building sustainable, both environmentally and economically. We design and build with sustainability in mind, and create award-winning projects that are not only sustainable but also enhance the wellbeing of the people who work in them.

Technical talent

Engineering is an exciting, varied and rewarding career however there is a shortage of younger people applying for engineering courses and engineering jobs in the UK. One of the prime reasons for this is that many young people are unsure what engineering is and what engineers do. The growing skills gap in the engineering industry is a worry. 

In the February 2020 issue of the Facilities Management Journal, JCA discussed how we found, trained and motivated our staff to ensure continuation of services in the years to come. Offering an apprenticeship is only one of the ways to help fill the skills gaps, upskill and revitalise the workforce to ensure the business is future proof and future ready. Another issue is the continuing gender disparity in engineering. At JCA, we are working hard at supporting women in varied roles, including engineering, throughout the business. 

You may want to read:

• “Continuous service” – FMJ November 2020
• Third RoSPA Gold for JCA 
• New ICU facility at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
• Technical talent – FMJ, February 2020 
• First place for KAO Data Campus