Align throw support behind Women in Construction Week
We are celebrating the vital role that women play at Align Property Partners – as we join companies across the UK showing their support for Women in Construction Week.
The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) held the first Women in Construction (WIC) Week in 1998 and it has grown and expanded each year since.
Here at Align, we are proud of our diverse workforce with women playing a hugely significant and integral role across many of our departments.
Let’s introduce some of our fantastic female employees:
Svea Polster
Svea Polster is one of our senior architects and previously worked with award-winning architectural practices Bennetts Associates and MCM in London for more than 20 years.
While working in the capital, she was involved with the design and delivery of a number of office and hotel buildings.
She is particularly proud of her major contributions to the design and delivery of the Royal College of Pathologists building, which recently featured in the opening episode of BBC’s Ludwig, as well as the headquarters building for Anglo-American De Beers.
Svea and her family decided to relocate North during the pandemic and now lives in the Lake District – and Align have been very lucky to snap up her talent.
At Align, she has been involved in a number of our high-profile projects for the HM Coroner’s Cumbria, as well as visitor and community facilities at Earnse Bay on Walney Island.
She has just finished the delivery of the new Maryport Activity Centre refurbishment, the result of which has had an enthusiastic reception from all new and returning visitors.
“Svea is a dedicated professional who is committed to upholding project design principles while ensuring the highest levels of specification, validation and quality,” said one sub-contractor who she has worked closely.
“Despite a relentless pursuit of perfection, she has a unique ability to gain the full support and respect of the entire design team.”
Hannah Clayton
Hannah Clayton is based in our Northallerton office and has been an architect at Align since the company was formed in 2016.
In that time, Hannah has delivered various projects of which she is immensely proud.
In this picture, Hannah can be seen on site at the Darlington Crematorium and Chapel project for which she was architectural lead for the majority – but her baby arrived before practical completion!
This fantastic project won the ‘Regional New Build Project of the Year’ award for Align at the Energy Efficiency Awards in 2024.
Yet Hannah’s most recent school expansion project currently brings her the most pride. Following completion of the works at Boroughbridge Primary School, Hannah received praise from the client, contractor, school and school governors.
Hannah is proud to have delivered such a successful project and to have played her part in creating an enjoyable environment for school staff and children to benefit from for years to come.
She said: “I love the variety of my job, from chairing team meetings with clients and contractors to conducting site surveys and visits, putting pen to paper and designing spaces. No two days are usually the same.
“The end result is incredibly satisfying when I know I’ve played a part in improving the build environment for the building occupiers for many, many years to come.”
Julie Turner
Julie Turner has been a senior engineer at Align for three years and has spent nearly 40 years as a civil engineer in construction.
She joined the profession planning to working abroad, and has surveyed and designed water systems for Gurkha villages in Nepal and built roads in Lesotho’s mountainous terrain – constructed mainly by women and using only basic hand tools.
She later spent nine years on the small Channel Island of Alderney, leading technical teams and overseeing dozens of major infrastructure projects. Her standout moments there included competing on Eggheads and giving Prince Edward a tour of a £10 million quay reconstruction.
Julie has since built wind farms in Scotland and taught construction at Blackburn College. Now back in Northallerton after 20 years, she works in Highways transport and development, balancing sitework on major s278 works with planning applications while collaborating closely with developers and contractors.
“Having great colleagues is the icing on the cake—it makes work a joy,” Julie said.
“I try to help others up the ladder, both through the ICE Training Scheme and with the group of brilliant women in construction at Align.”
