International Women in Engineering Day Friday 23rd June, 2023

International Women in Engineering Day – A day in the life of our Digital Construction Team Lead, Camila

At NUGENT we are passionate about female opportunities within the Engineering industry. We are delighted to have many intelligent females within our workforce working across multiple roles to name a few; Helpdesk, Quantity Surveying, HSEQ & HR Director, Document Control, Receptionist, Marketing, Pre-Construction, Digital Construction, Admin and Accounts. As reported in March, 2022 by Engineering UK, women now make up 16.5% of all engineers which is a massive 6% increase of women in the engineering industry (wes.org.uk). This year’s theme is #MakeSafetySeen.

We asked our Digital Construction Team Lead, Camila a few questions about her role within the NUGENT team and her general day to day duties:

Were you always interested in a career within Digital Construction / if not, what made you choose the career pathway?

My passion has always been environmental sustainability.

I had always had the urge to develop something new and extraordinary that would help us humans to make use of what the environment offer us without destroying it, a way of giving something good back and create a cycle that harmonizes our relationship with the planet. With this in mind, I made my way through different areas trying to find my own place – started working with R&D of Renewable Energies, which led me to the construction industry through Passive Haus.

Once involved with the construction industry, it came to me that humans have been constructing and building things from the very beginning of their existence and that this process will continue to happen for as long as we exist so we must find the means to do this in the best possible way – and that’s where Digital Construction comes.

Digital Construction gives us the opportunity to make the construction processes as clean, lean and environmentally friend as possible. It mixes technology and human knowledge to benefit the industry, people and the environment, helping us to create better buildings, achieve greater levels of human comfort and harmonize our relationship with the planet a little bit more each day.

Tell us a bit about your typical duties in a day?

Working with Digital Construction means, amongst all things, that we have to construct in the Digital environment first, make sure that it all works so that can be replicated in the real world – and that means a lot of work.

Our team collaborates together to make sure we are always achieving the best possible scenario, taking into account construction standards (ISO, BS, etc) and client’s requirements.

A typical day for me comprises of attending to meetings with our external and internal teams to ensure communication flows in the right direction and everyone knows what and how to do things (this means finding answers to possible issues by checking standards, lialising with designers, contractors, clients, engineers and even our IT support, since everything we do is digital so it’s essential our software is working properly).

Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

I wouldn’t say “in so many years” but for the future, I hope to be in a position where I can look back and be proud of all the work I’ve done, every building I helped bring to life and every contribution I’ve made to help straighten the bond between us and the environment – all while lying on a beach somewhere in Spain Ha! The NUGENT Team are expanding with multiple projects which is fantastic to see, I hope to continue growing our Digital Construction team which I am very proud of.

What advice would you give to females who are interested in a career within the Engineering industry?

1. Find your passion and have a goal that goes beyond the numbers in your bank account.
2. Do not let anyone (especially yourself) tell you that you can’t do something.
3. Study to understand and learn (not just to pass some tests) so you can have your own visions and create your own way.
4. Never give up – ever! Nothing good comes immediate; patience and persistence is key.

Pre-Construction Director, Colum Sheppard said, “Camila is an exceptional individual, her work ethic and passion to progress within in her career is fantastic to see. Since joining the team, Camila has developed our Digital Construction sector massively through implementing new trends and ways to enhance our projects. The awareness of International Women in Engineering Day is incredible in the last few years, especially for the younger female generation to be encouraged”.