The Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games represent the largest peacetime mobilisation of digital and construction skills Australia will face. Yet ongoing workforce shortages and low female participation suggest that skills interventions are still happening too late.

This session reframes digital skills development as a belonging challenge, not simply a training challenge. Drawing on over 16 years of experience through Class Of Your Own and the Design Engineer Construct! (DEC) programme, a featured education legacy of London 2012 now operating in Australia by invitation, the presentation explores how early engagement in schools is critical to building a future-ready workforce.

By working on real projects, using digital tools with purpose and operating in teams, young people begin to see themselves as part of Team Construction. With Brisbane 2032 as a catalyst, the session sets out practical actions for industry, educators and Women in BIM members to take now, embedding inclusion, confidence and digital capability long before career decisions are fixed.