Having shaken up the Capital’s residential and commercial construction industry over recent years, NEOTERIC DEVELOPMENTS and ND Management are marking International Women’s Day 2021 with leadership actions to address a perennial shortage of women in Canada’s building trades.

The companies today announced the creation of several bursaries that will bear their names, and challenged other construction companies to follow their example.

“As a father and an industry leader, I recognize that I have a responsibility to pay my success forward,” says Or Bielak, owner and president, NEOTERIC DEVELOPMENTS and ND Management. “The gender gap in our chosen fields is one that needs to be bridged, and we are choosing to act.”

Estimates suggest that Canada’s construction industry will lose one third of its skilled workers to retirement over the next decade. Currently, Canadian women represent just 4% of the construction industry’s skilled trade workforce.

The bursaries being announced today will support young women graduating from St. Mark High School, Glebe Collegiate, and Lisgar Collegiate in pursuing architecture, business, or engineering studies at a Canadian college or university.

Applications will open in April, and the bursaries will be awarded in June.

“I am proud to work for a company that builds outside of the box, and thinks bigger in all ways,” says Marco Manconi, Vice-President, NEOTERIC DEVELOPMENTS and ND Management. “This is an industry-wide challenge, and the people of our industry need to take concrete actions to address it.”

Adds Bielak: “A challenged world is an alert world, and we challenge other industry leaders to join is in addressing parity gaps and access barriers – for our daughters and for generations to follow.”

NEOTERIC and ND Management say other initiatives are in the works, and could be announced soon.

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