Leighton Buzzard’s female engineers building the future

Women make up nearly half the latest crop of apprentices hired by a Leighton Buzzard construction firm in an industry where more than four in five workers nationwide are men. 

As part of Initivo Consultancy's International Women in Engineering Day celebrations, local MP Alex Mayer  met the next generation of female engineers taking part in the firm’s award-winning apprenticeship scheme. 

Managing Director Emma Kent showed the MP some special 'acoustic barriers' for HS2 being vibrated back and forth millions of times to test how they would fair over 100-plus years, before watching the firm’s jet engine that blows wind on full-scale building façade mock-ups.

Initivo is a key player in some of Britain’s biggest infrastructure projects. Across the 5.5 hectare Leighton Buzzard site scientists, engineers and technicians construct large, complex mock-ups to test performance.  Other projects the team are working on include the Silvertown Tunnel.

They have previously been crucial to many well-known schemes creating a full scale model of an Elizabeth Line station and testing how the façade of the Olympic Velodrome would cope with the British weather.

Alex Mayer MP said: “It’s great to be back at Initivo. Leighton Buzzard is a key player in delivering the infrastructure Britain needs.”

The Labour MP has recently taken part in a Parliamentary inquiry into skills shortages, with a focus on the transport sector.

Alex Mayer MP continued: “The Parliamentary report ‘Engine for growth’ shows women remain significantly underrepresented across engineering and manufacturing roles, but here in Leighton Buzzard we’re bucking the trend. These are good, skilled jobs. Emma and the team are opening doors and smashing stereotypes.”

Emma Kent, Initivo Managing Director, added:  “Having a fulfilling career in construction and engineering, it’s an honour to help inspire the next generation.

“We have brilliant women at Initivo, many at the start of their careers, making a real contribution to engineering innovation and major infrastructure projects. We’re not just helping deliver major projects - we’re helping develop the future leaders of construction and engineering too.”  

The pair also touched on Emma’s work with Overt Stem, an organisation focused on connecting education, industry and others across the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.