Employees from Arcadis, Arup, Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Laing O'Rourke, Lend Lease, Mott Macdonald, Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, Skanska, and WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff are taking part in the march to champion the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people within the industry under the banner of #BuildingEquality.
The parade is part of Pride in London, a week-long festival from 20th to 28th June celebrating sexual diversity.
If you want to join them to show your support, well you can’t. Only registered groups whose members are wearing the official wristband are allowed to join the parade, and applications closed in April.
However, industry networks Off Site and InterEngineering report growth in numbers over recent years, while Stonewall, the LGBT equality campaign group, has 23 organisations from the property and built environment sector among its corporate ‘diversity champions’.
For the first time ever, there was an engineering and construction presence at Student Pride in February 2016, the largest LGBT careers fair in the UK.
Neil Martin, managing director of Lendlease’s construction business, said: “We are delighted to be participating in Pride London as part of the #BuildingEquality group. At Lendlease, we know that unless individuals feel able to be themselves and are comfortable in their own skin, they cannot be at their best.
“Having LGBT-supportive workplace policies reduces stress and anxiety for LGBT-employees leading to improved health, increased job satisfaction and better working relationships. More importantly, it is the right thing to do. We believe nobody should have to hide who they are and we are proud to be one of the firms leading the way towards building equality in the construction industry.”
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