The Home Builders Federation (HBF)’s Women into Home Building programme has won Career Development Initiative of the Year at the Women in Housing and Housing Heroes Awards 2026, held yesterday in Manchester at the Housing 2026 conference.
The annual awards recognise individuals, teams and organisations across the housing sector who have made a significant contribution to improving outcomes for customers and colleagues, and celebrate innovation and best practice across the industry.
Delivered by HBF in partnership with Pathway CTM, the Women into Home Building programme is a nationwide initiative designed to support women into site management careers in home building.
Since launching in January 2023, more than 400 women have received career support and advice, over 200 have completed industry insight training and work placements, and more than 59 have progressed into employment in the sector.
The programme forms a key part of the HBF Sector Skills Plan and aims to address skills shortages in site management while improving gender diversity across the industry.
Women currently represent around 5% of site management roles in home building, and the initiative provides structured training, work experience and support to help break down barriers to entry and improve access to career pathways.
The programme is supported by a range of home builders and industry partners, including Anwyl, Bargate Homes, Bellway Homes, Croudace, Davidsons Homes, Gleeson Homes, Hill Group UK, Keepmoat, Lovell Homes, NHBC, Persimmon Homes, Places for People, Prospect Homes, Pentland Homes, Spitfire Homes, Stonebond, Taylor Wimpey, untypical, Vistry Group and Wates.
Andy George, Director of Industry Attraction and Skills at HBF, said: “It was great to see the Women into Home Building programme win the Career Development Initiative of the Year award. The programme is a key component of our Sector Skills Plan, providing valuable insight through work experience placements and is continuing to go from strength to strength. It’s fantastic to see this work recognised externally.”