Meet a Woman Engineer - Lisa Abbott

Name: Lisa Abbott
Job Title: Pre-Construction Director
Location: Birmingham

We're delighted to have worked with Lisa Abbott, who has enjoyed a successsful career in the construction industry, and now holds a senior role working for BAM Construction. 

Here's her story:

When did you realise that a career in engineering was right for you? Was there a particular moment in your life?

When I was studying A Levels, I wanted to do something that continued with the maths and sciences I was studying but wanted to do a vocational course at university – rather than studying an academic subject for another 3 or 4 years and still not knowing what career I was going to follow.

After looking through the big book of careers (no Google in those days!) I was interested in Engineering and Quantity Surveying, so I organised a work experience placement at Wimpey Construction in the surveying department – and I loved it! Looking back this was mainly because of the people I worked with, and this is still true today – construction is all about the teams and people we work with.

What does an average day look like for you?

Is it a cliché to say there isn’t an average day? My career has been through a number of iterations to get from quantity survey to preconstruction, but none of them have involved an ‘average day’. Its all about interacting with teams, both internal and external, and developing solutions to the challenges we face on projects and as an industry. Although there can be a theme to the challenges, each project and client is individual and has individual needs.

How did you get into this career? What qualifications did you get?
I went to university to study a degree in Quantity Surveying, and quickly followed that with gaining my MRICS status. After about 10 years in the industry I did an MSc in Construction Project Management, and that was invaluable.

Did you face any challenges with your career decision as a woman engineer?
My parents were unimpressed with my choice, and it was hard going off to university and taking that big step of independence under a bit of a cloud. And when I look back at those early career years, I can see how hard I had to work to integrate with project teams and prove myself as a woman in construction. Although women are still very under-represented in construction and engineering now, I hope their experiences are better now men are used to working with us and appreciate that we are as good as our male counterparts.
 
What advice would you give to young girls considering a career in engineering?
Go for it, it’s a brilliant industry! The opportunities and variety are amazing, and construction needs you. We need a more diverse industry to represent the communities and clients we work for. Our industry transforms communities, all our projects make a difference and if we don’t have diverse teams that understand the stakeholders we work with, how can we deliver long term sustainable solutions.
 
Do you have any standout memories/funny/interesting stories from your career as an engineer?
Visiting the billion-dollar replacement Oakland Bay Bridge project in San Francisco as part of my MSc course was amazing. The scale of engineering to put foundations in San Francisco Bay and off site manufacturing of precast bridge sections was beyond anything else I’ve ever seen, and makes you realise the extreme challenges that engineers can solve.