FEATURE
Equality, the Job in Question Hollie Cregan has been appointed head of Inclusion, Fairness and Respect at construction giant Graham. She talks to Emma Deighan about why the creation of the role will make the company a leader in marrying diversity initiatives with everyday business.
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rior to joining Graham, the Hillsborough-headquartered building and civil engineering firm, Hollie Cregan worked at Dutch firm VolkerWessels, a contractor that delivers engineering solutions across the civil engineering and construction sectors. A quantity surveyor in a male-heavy sector, she progressed into a project management role, delivering high-profile rail projects all while working on separate CSR projects to drive initiatives to narrow the gender gap in the business as well as challenging stereotypes. Her hard efforts saw her spend four years as the company’s head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Today Hollie is Graham’s first ever head of Inclusion, Fairness and Respect, a post that sees the company lead the way here in important inclusion matters.
“When I joined the company there was no-one doing this role. It didn’t exist. We had certain individuals doing it as part of their day jobs – everyone was doing their bit – however, it was the foresight of our civil engineering managing director, Leo Martin, who thought if we’re going to drive this forward we need to appoint someone to lead that,” she begins. EDI is a passion for Hollie. Her goal to make the workplace a more diverse environment stretches outside of GRAHAM where she is also a Network Rail Diversity and Inclusion champion, STEM and FIR ambassador and sits on the Board of Governors at her local primary school – a position that fits perfectly with her passion to inspire future generations, particularly girls, into the construction industry. Graham has more than 2,500 employees and a presence in 17 UK
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