To celebrate International Women’s Day 2022 and National Careers Week, WeAreWaterloo have partnered with Build Studios for the first PowWow panel talk of the year to shine a light on inspirational women within the built environment.

Hear from Tara Gbolade (RIBAJ’s Rising Star Winner, Co-Founder of GD Studio and the Paradigm Network – a professional network championing Black and Asian representation in the built environment), Fiona McDonald (Head of Learning at the Design Museum and co-founder of Matt+Fiona, an award-winning architectural education organisation), Imogen Blaikie (Urban Planner at Allies and Morrison, a leading architecture and urban planning practice currently developing a placemaking strategy for Waterloo) and Ana Becheru (Director on secondment for Global Operations and EMEA Capital Programmes Delivery Manager with JonesLang LaSalle, JLL).

While our panel represents a line-up of groundbreaking talent, it does not reflect reality within the built environment sector:

– In England, less than 30% of all registered architects are women (AJ)

– In the UK, around 11% of engineers are women, thought to be the lowest rate in Europe (Property Week)

– Almost 90% of female architects say having children puts them at a disadvantage in terms of career growth (AJ)

– Almost 94% of architects are white (The Guardian)

What is causing this lack of representation to persist, and preventing us from having all the voices we need at the table to design the towns and cities we need to navigate local problems and global challenges alike?

Join us for an evening of challenging, thought-provoking and insightful conversation led by Helen Santer, Chief Executive of Build Studios (an inclusive hub for the built environment) and partnerships specialist, addressing issues ranging from access and representation while unpacking how we can make space for women, in more ways than one.

Attendees will receive a complimentary drink on arrival and are invited to network post-event. DJ, a bar (open until late) and good times to be expected!

PowWow Waterloo is a pop-up debate series created by WeAreWaterloo BID and produced by WRB Studios with the sole purpose of making Waterloo *the* place to have challenging discussions, while opening up the neighbourhood to new audiences.

Tickets are £5 and include a free house wine/beer/soft drink.