My best friend, Beryl Foote, who has died after a stroke, aged 67, was probably the first woman quantity surveyor in the British building industry. Many images of Beryl come to mind. Almost invisible behind vast pads in hockey goal while still wearing her glasses. With hard hat and steely glare in place to face down the toughest sub-contractor on the biggest construction site. Climbing effortlessly through steep bluebell woods pointing out every tiny plant and naming every bird's song.
After shaky grades stopped her studying mathematics at Reading University, she dropped out of an electrical engineering degree at Warwick to become a pupil quantity surveyor in 1966 to John Laing. Thus began nearly 50 years in what she called "a bastion of male supremacy", working all over the south of England on both big and small commercial and domestic sites, transferring from the John Laing Group to George Wimpey. She was seen as a role model, was still working when she died and contributed to a case study of women in industry. She was gratified when the occasional woman began to appear on site, but lamented that they were so few.
Continue reading...
No comments:
Post a Comment