10 Sep 2026
Spitfire Welcomes Women into Housebuilding with HBF Programme
A civil engineer who found it difficult to break into the construction industry after moving to the UK, has joined a national programme and placement with us to help launch her career.
Aneena Thomas, originally from Cochin in India, joined us for a two-week placement at Viridian, Edgbaston, through the Home Builders Federation’s (HBF) Women into Home Building programme. The initiative has recently won Career Development Initiative of the Year at the Women in Housing and Housing Heroes Awards 2026, recognising its impact in improving outcomes for women across the sector.
Aneena holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala and a master’s degree in construction management from Coventry University, alongside six years’ industry experience as a civil engineer, project coordinator and design coordinator. Despite her qualifications, she found it difficult to break into the UK construction sector, where employers typically look for local site experience. This led her to apply for the programme, which offered the site-base exposure that the industry is looking for.
Aneena said:
“Since I didn’t have any experience on site within the UK, it was hard to get into the industry here, because that is what employers ask for a lot of the time. I’d worked in construction for six years in India, but I needed UK experience to move forward, and this programme offered me exactly that. It has built on everything I did back home, and I can already see it opening the door to new opportunities.”
During her placement, Aneena shadowed Site Manager Matt Nagorski and Assistant Site Manager Mike Scully, observing how they managed subcontractors, resolved issues on site and upheld health and safety standards.
Aneena added:
“Even though the process of building a house is the same, the materials and construction methods are different to what I was used to in India. The standards the site team work to, and the way they keep everything running smoothly and safely, gave me a valuable insight into how things are done here that I could take away as valuable experience.”
About to be in its nineth cohort since launching in 2023, the HBF programme offers fully funded site management placements in collaboration with national and regional homebuilders. The three-week programme combines a week of online training with two weeks of hands-on work experience, with childcare and travel support sponsored by NHBC to help remove barriers to entry. To date, it has supported more than 150 candidates, with over 50 going on to secure employment in the industry.
Looking ahead, Aneena hopes to build on her placement experience by pursuing a career on the technical side of the industry, with a particular interest in planning and design, while remaining open to further site-based opportunities.
Aneena concluded:
“My experience in India was mainly on the technical side, so that’s the direction I’d like to develop my career in. But the on-site experience with Spitfire has been incredibly valuable, and I’d love to keep doing that if the opportunity is there.
“I’d never really thought about it before, but coming to the UK is when I realised how male-dominated the construction industry is here. I hope initiatives like the HBF programme help open the door for more women to consider careers in construction who might not have done so otherwise.”
Applications for the latest cohort of the Women into Home Building programme are now open, and close at midnight on Sunday 20 September, with the programme open to career changers, returners, graduates and women at any stage of their career. For more information, visit https://www.hbf.co.uk/policy/campaigns-and-initiatives/wihb/.