Celebrating International Women’s Day

Posted by on 7 Mar 2024

In recognition of International Women’s Day 2024 we spoke with Lucy Sexton, Senior Project Officer at Rochdale Development Agency about working in a traditionally male dominated sector.                   

As a child Lucy was a fan of casualty and thought she wanted to be a paramedic when she grew up, but quickly realised that being was a little squeamish it really wasn’t a career for her!

Lucy went on to study business at University in Nottingham, and it was here she got the bug for property and construction.

Her university placement was at a property company in Nottingham, here she gained experience in all elements of the sector, from sales and lettings to legal and strategic planning, giving her a great sense of the industry and the opportunities for a future career choice.

After returning from a year of travelling, Lucy secured a role in a Manchester based property company where she spent 5 years in sales and lettings of new build properties, whilst enjoying the role she realised she needed more of a challenge, and it was the construction of new builds that she had a true passion for and gave her the challenge she needed.

A role came up as Project Manager for the Major Projects Team with the Rochdale Development Agency, and despite recognising early on the women were in the minority in the construction industry, undiscouraged Lucy applied for the role, was successful and has never looked back.

Lucy acknowledges that whilst she knew it was a stereotypical male dominated environment, she didn’t realise to what extent this would be.  Initially she was not taken seriously, and it was difficult to voice her opinion or views, also being a young project manager in this sector she admitted there were times she doubted herself, but determination, strength and tenacity meant this didn’t put her off.
In the early days, Lucy experienced barriers and dismissive behaviour, people saw her as admin support or PA not a Project Manager, when chairing meetings in the early stages this was in the back of her mind. However, she took control and stood her ground, using emotional intelligence to manage personalities and ensuring she positioned herself as the person with the answers, and today she is treated with respect as the experienced, knowledgeable Project Manager that she is.

Commenting on the early days Lucy said, “It made me stronger and more fired up, the priority is job and outcome of the project, I learnt quickly not to allow what people say and think affect you.”

This year Lucy has been promoted to a Senior Project Officer overseeing projects that include the Rail Corridor across Rochdale that includes 5 railway stations, including the major investment around the Rochdale Train Station development, and also the Heritage Action Zone (HAZ), the regeneration project within the Conservation area in the heart of town centre.

Lucy was brought up in Rochdale, and despite moving away from the town for 6 years to study, travel and work, each time she came home to visit friends and family, she could see the investment and regeneration taking place in the town, and like many people from Rochdale the pride in the town was reignited and with so much potential for the borough she knew she wanted to be part of the journey.

Whilst the sector is still male dominated, there is pride in knowing that the Project Management Team at Rochdale Development Agency is 60% female, not only is Rochdale forward thinking with innovative projects and the future of the borough on an economic level, but also with having a level playing field when it comes to recruitment in more traditionally male dominated roles.