Bola Abisogun, a chartered surveyor and chartered builder, was elected chair of the CIC diversity and inclusion committee at a meeting of Construction Industry Council members on 3rd November.
Rebecca Lovelace was elected as deputy chair. She used to work as a community development manager at Lendlease before setting up a careers website (or “hub”), Building People.
They take over from chartered surveyor turned business coach Maria Coulter and Berkeley Group sustainability chief Louise Clarke.
The CIC diversity & inclusion committee is forum through which construction’s professional bodies can cooperate to promote diversity within the sector’s workforce.
Bola Abisogun, who has also recently become the digital director for the BIM Academy, said: “The challenge of co-curating a totally inclusive (and representative) built environment sector, where all stakeholders and participants, are afforded the genuine, unconditional opportunity to bring their whole self to the workplace, is something that I have strived to achieve since August 2000, on my return from a trip to Atlanta in the USA.
“Although the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) conversation continues to be a global product, it is patently obvious to myself and others, that if the UK construction sector is to achieve its true potential and mitigate the ‘leaky pipe of retention’ then all protected characteristics should remain of equal importance. Such an ambition cannot be achieved without the unfailing support and leadership of the CIC; to which I am now humble and happy to support as the D&I champion.”
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