Katarzyna ‘Kat’ Gawenda, aged 32, is part of the team at WhatHouse? Housebuilder of the Year City & Country, and we have spoken to her about the career journey to her current role of site manager.
When was the first time you considered a career in construction/housebuilding, and what path have you taken to your position today?
I grew up in Kraków, in Poland. It’s not that unusual, back home, for women to go into construction, and as higher education is free there, it is easier to go to university and gain the qualifications you need. I took a degree in Civil Engineering with major in Building and Engineering Construction, which is essential to be a site manager in Poland, then worked on site and in the architectural office on new build housing projects in the Kraków area for several years.
I decided to move to the UK four years ago during the pandemic, looking for work and hoping to broaden my experience, but it was frustrating to discover that my Polish degree wasn’t officially recognised in the UK in division of site management. Luckily, I discovered City & Country, who offered me the opportunity to update my qualifications to UK standards while working for them on site as a trainee assistant site manager.
What do you enjoy most about your current role?
After a career spent working entirely in new builds, I’m really enjoying the challenge of taking on heritage projects at City & Country – it’s more interesting and more challenging. It’s not just a question of following the plans and building the design, you encounter new issues every day, so it’s a lot more demanding. For example, there are lots of assumptions in heritage work, but very often what you find on site turns out to be something completely different – a void where you were expecting something solid, or mystery materials that weren’t at all what you were expecting. There are always a lot of surprises!
Congratulations on recently completing your NVQ Level 6 in Construction site management – what does that qualification involve, and what inspired you to take it?
The NVQ Level 6 is the equivalent to a degree qualification, and gave me the opportunity to update my skills for UK industry requirements, without having to physically go back to university. I was able to work on site while studying online, in my own time at home, submitting all the evidence of the experience I was gaining as I was going along. In the end it only took two years to gain a qualification that allows me to become a member of the Chartered Institute of Building. I’m also quite proud to be the first woman to have achieved the qualification at City & Country – hopefully the first of many!
Are there major differences – positive or otherwise – about the industry in Poland and that in the UK?
Being on site in the UK is similar in some ways and different in others to working in Poland. In the UK, there are a lot more opportunities to progress from being on tools to working in management. In Poland, you need to have a degree to be in management so it’s harder for people to move up the career ladder. As far as working on site is concerned, the everyday procedures are actually very similar, although obviously the UK has slightly different regulations than Poland. It did come as a bit of a surprise how male-dominated construction sites still are in the UK, although I’m glad to see that it is slowly changing in the UK.
Have there been projects that have been particularly inspiring over your career?
Ever since I started with City & Country I’ve been working on The 1840 St George’s Gardens, a project in Tooting that’s transforming a Grade II Listed former hospital building into beautiful apartments. I have learnt so much through working there, mainly doing structural alterations and external works. The nature of working on heritage buildings means that you have to become very good at problem solving, which is now a huge (and fascinating) part of my job!
What makes City & Country a great company to work for?
City & Country has been tremendously supportive, and the fact that they covered all the costs of the course and qualification really helped to make that a possibility for me – it’s good to see a company that really puts staff training and career development at the heart of what it does. I appreciate the way that they are working to improve the gender balance in the construction industry, and really give women a chance to show what they can do.
How would you like your career to progress with your NVQ Level 6 qualification?
I am really enjoying working on The 1840 St George’s Gardens, so I am hoping to stay on site there until the project’s completion in a couple of years’ time – it will be very satisfying to have seen such a major project through from start to finish. After that I would probably like to go on to a new build project as I haven’t worked on a new build construction site in the UK yet, and I’d like to be able to compare it with my previous work in Poland.
I am aiming to progress to senior site manager, then longer term, make the move into project management, so rather than just dealing with the daily running of the site I will be responsible for entire process of projects. After that, who knows!
