BIM4Water is partnering with Women in BIM (WIB) to drive change together, for diversity and inclusion across the Water Sector.
Growth mindset behaviours and innovative thought leadership are attainable through optimised diversity. Digital transformation allows human resources to maximise their potential through new ways of working, change management challenges and horizon scanning. Despite this, the Water Sector digital landscape remains a majority male environment. A new partnership between BIM4Water and Women in BIM aims to address this challenge by ensuring inclusion-driven decision making is at the heart of business digital initiatives.
WIB was founded with the intention of creating a dedicated network for women working in BIM and digital construction. From the beginning, diversity and equality have always been part of the core principles of WIB. As a Membership group, WIB strives to integrate and nurture the talent and capabilities of our Members as well as taking positive action to increase respect, fairness and inclusion throughout the construction industry. Fostering cultural, ethical and social diversity is high on our agenda, with a particular focus on gender equality.
WIB works with many women globally to support career development and well as attracting young women into the industry. WIB acts as mentors to grow personal and professional skills, encouraging our Members to enter into BIM and digital-related roles in the future. WIB equips its Members with the tools and confidence they need to create a more diverse industry.
The three main objectives of Women in BIM are:
- Attract and encourage
- Promote and support
- Advance and retain
BIM4Water is an unfunded, voluntary UK Water Industry forum that consists of a cross industry group open to all organisations involved in the management and delivery of water and wastewater assets. Focussed on the digital space, it undertakes activities in all aspects of “Better Information Management” including, but not limited to: open data sharing, data quality, security and governance, 4D construction and beyond, asset data, data classification and hierarchies, and, most importantly, the human element with respect to skills, people and changes required to drive digitalisation.
The group’s make-up is reflective of the sector, comprising clients, contractors, consultants, suppliers, subcontractors and other bodies, with work organised into a number of streams. Bringing these streams together, the group has identified that successful digitalisation depends on the management of change, that addresses human and machine elements hand-in-hand.
As BIM4Water nears it 10-year anniversary and as WIB celebrates achieving this milestone last year, it is time to connect efforts in achieving a new normal – a changed landscape of human resources.
Clare Kovacs, Chair of BIM4Water and Rebecca De Cicco, Chair of WIB, explain the partnership plans and the difference it could make to the Water Sector.
Clare Kovacs, Chair of BIM4Water said: “I am personally very supportive of this partnership. There is real opportunity to educate the sector in how to retain female employees, how to elevate and support other females in the sector to promote a diverse workforce and how to stand strong in developing an inclusive considerate culture and diversity mindset in organisations.”
Sharing a common vision, the aim of the BIM4Water and the WIB partnership is to promote cognitive divergence in the Water Sector through inclusive and diverse recruitment, creating the right environments that put people at the forefront of digital technological development and implementation. Through this new partnership, BIM4Water will gain access to an international community with a network of over 60 regional leads across 50 different countries. BIM4Water aim to be pioneers in international collaboration, having already had great success with Water Industry Classification and Hierarchies Group and Water Services Association of Australia.
Rebecca De Cicco, Chair and Founder of Women in BIM, said: “Women in BIM is excited to partner with BIM4Water to support growth in diversity across digital in the water sector. Personally, I am very excited about this partnership as we are starting to see real growth in water clients globally, as well as interest from our members in digital applications and process across sectors wider than Building and Infrastructure. I am excited about where we can progress in this space, and it is our vision to enable a more diverse and innovative space for Water clients.”
For more details of the work, contact Clare Kovacs.
