Chicks and Bricks

At the recent Happold Medal Lecture, the tireless and wonderfully droll Paul Morrell, the government’s chief construction adviser and recipient of the medal, talked persuasively about the need for reform in the construction industry and why all those involved in creating places need to integrate, stop working away in our own little silos and work in partnership to give clients a less confrontational experience when commissioning a project.

This sounds sensible but brave given the broad church of his audience. Our industry is all about individual areas of control – of design intent, technical competence, risk avoidance, health and safety in dangerous conditions, and of large budgets, and protecting our individual practices from claims or financial failure. It is also very male and territorial.

I have learned that, as a woman in this industry, I need to be “more like a man” to quote Professor Higgins. 

It comes as a surprise to some that I can give as good as I get, can throw a builder off site for reeking of alcohol or demand a detail be done again as my drawings show.  My snagging prowess is impressive, and I can tell a mechanical engineer, politely, to be more “creative” about those massive grilles. I have been instrumental in two Forms of Agreement being published by RIBA for my institute, and have co authored the BIID Interior Design Job Book. I try to be rigorous in all I do and keep up with sustainability development and technical innovation, and fulfil my CPD requirements. But I am still expected to sit meekly by some master of the universe at a dinner and hear that his wife is, like me, “good with cushions and curtains”.  Actually I’m rubbish at cushions and curtains but I don’t want to be confrontational and so move the conversation on.

The interior design profession encompasses both the construction industry and the creative arts, and is inclusive of women.  We are generally more intuitive, more sensitive (in a good way) to our client’s emotional needs, and have the ear of our clients rather more than some other consultants on a project.  Women are better at listening, sensing trouble, reading facial expressions, and interpreting a tone of voice. They tend not to have big swinging egos – at least not exposing them publicly. I will not name names but you know who you are.  We prefer to sort things out amicably even if it means compromise, but we shouldn’t have to adopt aggressive attitudes to succeed in the industry when we have equally valuable skills to bring to the table.

Following the Happold lecture, a feisty young woman engineer promptly seized the microphone and asked whether the construction industry would be a better place if there were more women in it. There was a lot of slightly tentative male nodding and Paul Morrell totally agreed that it would be, and that he actually made a point of working with women.

So if reform and change is needed then Paul Morrell is well placed to persuade a few suits that the answer to life, the universe and everything in the construction industry could be to encourage more women.  I quite like the sound of Mistress of the Universe (although men will undoubtedly interpret that differently) and I dare anyone to comment on the fact that I mentioned the C(ushion) word – I might have to get confrontational.

Diana Yakeley is an interior designer in an architectural practice and President elect of the British Institute of Interior Design.