Empowering young women in STEM: Linesight’s Grace McConnell inspires at iWish Dublin

For the third consecutive year, Linesight was proud to participate in the iWish event at Dublin's RDS, showcasing STEM career opportunities to over 3,000 teenage girls, inspiring the next generation of female leaders in the construction industry.

Grace McConnell, Associate Director at Linesight, participated in an enlightening session, entitled ‘10 Fast Facts About My Career ’, where she shared her unique journey into Quantity Surveying alongside female leaders from various industries and sectors. Each presented their own '10 Fast Facts,' offering a variety of experiences and highlighting the wide range of opportunities for women in construction. Grace discussed her career development within Linesight, contributing to a broader narrative of diversity and opportunity in the construction sector.

As a mentor within Linesight and the Society of Chartered Surveyors, Grace is instrumental in guiding and supporting women who are interested in pursuing career opportunities within the construction industry.

Linesight's engagement with the iWish initiative underscores our commitment to fostering an inclusive and diverse industry. Through our ’Women at Linesight ’ network, we offer opportunities to women and men in our company to learn about, support and understand the issues facing women in growing their careers. The WiL initiative strives to advance opportunities for women to excel in our workforce and society, by focusing on education programmes, mentorship, showcasing talent and hosting speaker panel series.

Our efforts are designed to benefit the professional lives of our female staff, and inspire future generations in STEM and within the construction industry.

We're passionate about attracting individuals who share our vision for a more equitable and innovative future.

If you're interested in joining our team, we encourage you to explore our open roles, which you can view by clicking here , and in addition, you can read Grace’s McConnell’s ‘10 Fast Facts’ below.

1. My name is Grace McConnell, and I am an Associate Director at Linesight, which is a global construction consultancy. We look after most aspects of a construction project outside the design and physical building part – managing the costs, the schedule, advising on health and safety, and so forth.
2. We support projects like data centres, life sciences facilities and large-scale hospitals.
3. I have over 15 years in the industry, but I didn't take the traditional route into Quantity Surveying. After school, I got a degree in Interior Architecture and got hands-on experience in that field. I loved the design aspect of interior architecture, but for me, it lacked practicality.
4. I then went back to do a master's in quantity surveying, which I felt was a better fit for me as I had an interest in contracts, finance and problem solving.
5. I instantly took to the course and applied to work as a Quantity Surveyor. I joined Linesight in 2015 as a Junior Cost Manager and progressed from there.
6. I love what I do – every day is different. I am currently working on very large healthcare development projects. You begin working on a project when it’s just an idea and a sketch on a piece of paper, through to it being built and used by people every day, saving lives and helping them get better, for example.
7. I’m a mentor for the Society of Chartered Surveyors, and within Linesight, both a mentor for women in construction and a councillor for graduates applying to do their chartership.
8. There are many routes into this aside from a traditional degree after school – you can do an apprenticeship, or study part time while working.
9. There is a shortage of Quantity Surveyors at the moment, and specifically, a shortage of young women getting into the industry. So, there are huge opportunities and attractive salaries on offer.
10. You can do anything you want to do; you just need determination and hard work to succeed.