RhysJones - news archive

Spring 2002

RhysJones director appointed as a Trustee of the Royal Marines Museum

Sandi Rhys Jones OBE has been appointed as a co-opted Trustee of the Royal Marines Museum with a particular interest in the museum’s marketing and public relations activities.

The Royal Marines Museum is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of all aspects of Royal Marines history for the education and enjoyment of the general public. It was established 1958 and it is a registered charity.

Sandi has a good knowledge of the Royal Marines, gained in particular through her eldest son being selected for an SSLC with 40 Commando in his gap year between Dulwich College and Imperial College.

For more information about the Royal Marines Museum, please visit their website: www.royalmarinesmuseum.co.uk.

Spring 2002

RhysJones director joins Simons Group!

Sandi RhysJones OBE has been appointed a non-executive director of the £250m, turnover Simons Group from 1 April 2002.

Simons Group is a privately owned Construction, Property Development and Consultancy Group. It is based in Lincoln, and has offices throughout the East Midlands, South East, North East and Northwest England. Simons Group are included in the Sunday Times list of ‘100 Best Companies to Work for 2002’.

The company has three principal areas of business, Construction, Property and Consultancy services, including design/architecture, environmental, mechanical & electrical design and project management/ cost consultancy.

‘We are delighted to have Sandi on the Board’ comments Paul Hodgkinson, Chairman of Simons Group. ‘Whilst her contribution will cover the full range of business issues, her particular focus on promotion of opportunities for women in construction and teamworking within the industry, will be invaluable to Simons’ continued development,’

RhysJones Consultants will continue to be involved in delivering the 50:50 Vision initiative within Simons.

To find out more about Simons Group, please visit their website: www.simonsgroup.com

Spring 2002

All change at RhysJones

After 26 years in Greenwich, RhysJones Consultants has moved to Marylebone, Central London. The consultancy and publishing teams are now working and sharing offices with Tatham Pearce, a leading independent design and corporate communications consultancy. RhysJones and Tatham Pearce have worked together on corporate identity, branding and communications projects for a number of years.

The closer relationship means that RhysJones and Tatham Pearce will be able to provide co-ordinated research based strategic marketing, design and management services with the resources to handle large projects cost-effectively. The client base is commerce, industry, the professions and government. Tatham Pearce has won awards from Spicer & Oppenheimer, D&AD and The Stock Exchange for their work. Their clients include Ashurst Morris Crisp, Land Rover, Rolls Royce and Visa International.

By managing close working relationships with a network of specialist consultants, the RhysJones Tatham Pearce organisation can also deliver web technology, photography, translation and other disciplines as and when required, giving access to some of the best practitioners in their fields.

For more information contact Sandi Rhys Jones on 020 7724 6735, or David Pearce on 0202 7706 4303.

Spring 2002

Women in property and construction - Raising the Ratio

The RICS is determined to increase the number of women into the profession and has been running series of study groups to identify practical ways of attracting more women. A website has been developed and research is to be undertaken to discover the reasons why women do not stay in surveying and also the positive attitudes towards surveying career.

RICS represents over 110,000 members: 80,000 chartered surveyors, 3,000 technical surveyors and 21,000 students and probationers. They operate throughout the world in sixteen faculties:

Antiques and fine arts, Building surveying, Commercial, Construction, Dispute resolution, Environment, Facilities management, Minerals, Planning and development, Plant and Machinery, Project Management, Residential, Rural, Valuation, Geomatics, Management Consultancy.

Sandi Rhys Jones is a member of the Raising the Ratio study group.

In 2001 an event was organised to highlight the future role of women across all aspects of the property and construction industries. RICS president, Jonathan Harris and Shirley Conran, chair of the Work-Life Balance Trust, hosted the event.

Jonathan Harris, said:
"Any profession worth its salt wants to recruit talent from the broadest base possible. We need to find out why we are missing out and what we can do about it."

The reasons for the low proportion of women working within property were explored, as were the steps needed to redress the balance. Only 8% of practising chartered surveyors are female, although women comprise 16% of those currently training. This compares with 9.5% of practising architects, 13% of chartered accountants and 36% of solicitors.

The breakfast meeting was attended by a high profile audience of senior industry figures from major firms and representatives from the Cabinet Office, the Department for Education and Employment and the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Norma Jarboe from Opportunity Now made the business case for more women in influential positions in the workplace:

"Diversity leads to better decision making and better problem solving. In today's diverse markets any form of corporate monoculture will be a weakness."

Kate Howard of the Construction Industry Training Board espoused the need for a solid education and careers strategy to recruit females into the construction industry where little over 1% of trade and crafts workers are women.

Sandi Rhys Jones of Rhys Jones Consultants made a compelling presentation, which drew on her 30 years of experience in the industry.

She said:
"Five years ago you could clear a room in two minutes by talking about getting women into the construction industry. Things have improved but whereas then lack of awareness was the stumbling block, now we have to address lack of action."

A lively and productive debate followed which highlighted the need for organisations to be presented as role models as well as individuals to "showcase" the industry's success stories. Julie Mellor, chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission talked of the importance of removing the element of risk and fear for senior management executives who are courageous enough to take positive action in this area.

A study group was set up to report back on progress in 2002.

2001

National Conference for Executive and
Personal Assistants
Women in business summit, Paris
OBE for RhysJones director

Spring 2001
National Conference for Executive and Personal Assistants

Sandi Rhys Jones OBE gave a keynote speech with a paper at the inaugural National Conference for Executive and Personal Assistants 25 April 2001 in Belfast. She talked about innovation, motivation and self –preservation.
In her speech she referred to examples from the construction industry based on her 30-year experience. She discussed how people are motivated in the industry, which has the highest rates of accidents and injury, has lowest representation of women and is behind in EO issues. She mentioned examples of some innovative women who have made it in the industry regardless of obstacles and highlighted that being a minority can also be an advantage as it makes people remembered you. She also encouraged the audience to make the most of them at all times, have the courage to be successful and to figure out what they really want and then find a lifestyle and a career that will deliver those aspirations.
The other speakers at the conference included Trevor Martin -Belfast Building Control, Jane Benton Fort - Us Consul General, Gloria Gilfillan - Gloria Gilfillan Training Consultancy and Billy Dixon - Personal and Corporate Marketing Consultant.

Innovation, motivation and self-preservation, a paper by Sandi Rhys Jones OBE.

Spring 2001
Women in Business Summit, Paris

Sandi Rhys Jones presented a case study at the Inaugural Wall Street Journal, Women in Business Summit in Paris at the beginning of March. She addressed issues relating to the under-representation of women in construction and engineering and encouraged business women attending the conference to take action to contribute to change.
She is pioneering a number of innovative projects in the UK to bring about change including Building work for Women which aims to help women get practical experience on site to consolidate their qualifications in building trades including electrical installation, bricklaying, plumbing, painting and decorating.
Another initiative Building Equality in Construction aims to bring about cultural change in the construction industry by bringing together clients from the public housing sector and building companies to find practical ways of achieving gender and race equality.
She also continues to maintain the initiative Change the Face of Construction which sets out to alert the industry to the need for change and to demonstrate how construction companies can attract, develop and retain women and other under represented groups. She is currently seeking partners and funding for a road show to universities and for the production of a directory of role models.
The construction industry has been very slow to recognise the importance of women, both in the work force and as clients. The IT industry in the UK has recently expressed concern that only 24 per cent of its work force is female – in the construction it is barely 10 per cent overall.
Construction companies seem to be unaware of the growing power of women in commerce and industry, not to mention the scale of their influence in domestic purchasing decisions. In the UK where there is a huge skill shortage at all levels in the industry very few companies have recognised the potential of women in the industry not only in the building trades and professions but also in team-working and communications. Only a handful of companies are putting practical policies into place to make the necessary changes.
Many women become entrepreneurs in the industry simply because they cannot get work with established companies. They set up their own business in order practice their trade or profession and to have a more rewarding life style.
Other speakers at the summit included Esther Dyson, of EDventure Holdings; Sally Davis, President, BT Ignite Application Services; Concetta Lanciaux, Executive Vice President, LVMH; Marianne Nivert, President, Telia; and Donna C Peterman, Managing Director, Communications and Marketing, UBS Warburg Americas.

Summer 1998
OBE for RhysJones Director

Sandi Rhys Jones, director of RhysJones Consultants, was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 1998. The citation reads ‘For services to the Promotion of Opportunities for Women in the Construction Industry’.
Sandi Rhys Jones said, “I am delighted to receive this honour, not only on a personal level, but also because it sends a powerful message to the construction industry. The construction industry is a very important part of the economy - it is a major employer and makes a considerable contribution to invisible earnings. But it needs to change, to shed its reputation for poor performance, high cost and aggressive attitudes. Attracting, properly rewarding and keeping more women in the industry will help to bring about this change.”