CITB Nomination: Kylie LeFeuvre

We're very excited for this years CITB 100 Most Influential Women in Construction shortlist to be announced in the coming days, and we wanted to share with you our third and final nominee for this year, Kylie Le Feuvre- within the 'Woman on the Tools' category.

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Kylie has been a groundworker for the last two years, one as an agency worker who was subcontracted to work on one of our projects and one as fully employed member of the Champion Groundworks team.

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Prior to starting her role in groundworks Kylie had worked a number of jobs, whether that be bar work, cleaning, hospitality - and often a mix of all of the above. In her own words 'whatever it took to pay the bills" - until she was asked by her partner to join him on-site to help with some general site labourer work. This is where Kylie's love affair with construction started! Having identified Groundworks as an area she was very keen to learn more about with a view to potentially making it a long-term career - Kylie went ahead and took the plunge.

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Being a female agency worker is, as you can imagine, a very hard role to fulfil in a very male-dominated industry, but Kylie didn't let that hold her back from jumping in with both feet. Despite struggling with anxiety in her usual day-to-day life, Kylie was able to hold her own and has proven herself to be a very dedicated Groundworker who is keen to learn and undoubtedly has a great future ahead of her.

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Talking about her time as an agency worker Kylie said "When you're an agency worker you really have to prove yourself and work hard, harder even, than other people on site. This is even more true as a woman. The guys on site don't naturally expect a woman to arrive for a Groundworks role, and despite perceptions improving all the time - that old school mindset that doubts a womans ability to do what has traditionally been a very male-dominated job role does still exist."

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Talking about whether her being a woman in a groundworks role has been challenging and whether she's ever faced any sort of discrimination on-site because of this,  Kylie said "the only difference between me and the guys on-site is that I have a key to my own toilet, which I definitely take as a luxury - and one I'm  grateful to have!"

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Kylie came into the industry thinking she'd never be taken seriously, but has been pleasantly surprised by the reception she received from everyone on-site. "If you work hard and take all the opportunities that come your way for learning then the guys treat you with nothing but respect".

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Kylie absolutely loves her new career in groundworks, and said that when she was offered a role as a fully employed member of the Champion Groundworks team, within a gang - it was the highlight of her career so far, and that she was so overhwelmed with happiness she cried (happy tears of course!).

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We're so happy to have you as part of our team Kylie, and we wish you all the very best for your nomination!