Construction industry is great prospect for Holly Rose

A new Lincolnshire-based trainee site manager has spoken about her passion for her job, in an effort to encourage more young people into the construction industry.

Holly Rose, 30, who is from Lincoln, joined Chestnut Homes this February and has been busy settling into her life as a trainee site manager at the housebuilder’s Manor Farm development in Bardney.

Holly said: “I joined Chestnut Homes in a trainee position after working for six years as a Supervisor in highway maintenance. I just felt I had got as far as I could at my old job. I’ve got a degree in construction and civil engineering, so I thought I could better put it to use within the housebuilding industry. The fact that Chestnut Homes is a reasonably sized, family-run company appealed to me. They really care about the homes they are building, and I thought that the work that they do with local communities is great. They’re not the sort of company that just try to throw their products off the production line as quickly as possible. Chestnut Homes allow us the time to make sure the work is done correctly.”

It is no secret that the building industry has historically employed more males than females. Speaking of her experience in the industry, Holly Rose said: “Before, I sometimes felt like I had to work twice as hard to get the same recognition as my male colleagues at my old job. Everyone is treated equally at Chestnut Homes. Even from my interview with them I could sense that they were interested in me, as a person, and my qualifications, not hiring me because I’m a woman to fill a quota. I really feel that there should be more done to encourage more children and young adults into the building industry. There should be more knowledge available for young people about how far you can go. I’ve gone from working in highway maintenance to being a trainee site manager at a building site, which just shows the different career prospects people can have in this industry. Not enough young people know about how great the career progression can be.”

Having joined Chestnut Homes at the start of the year, Holly has had plenty of time to understand the key values that the company holds in both how it treats its workforce and how it goes about building homes. She said: “Chestnut Homes are interested in building homes, not houses. They care about the product that they are making, and they think of the little things to make each individual property as suitable for their customers as they can.Seeing the satisfaction from buyers when we have finished building a property makes all the hard work pay off. That’s what I like the best about this job.”