Chetna Reay - leading the way for women in traditional male industries

“They said I had to do cookery,” she recalls. “I did get told early on by one of my teachers ‘If you don’t push for these things they’ll just tell you what you have to do.’

“I stuck to my guns and said I want to do these subjects. And I did. I was the only girl in the class.”

In the 40 years since then Chetna has continued to push for a place in traditionally male environments.

She has established herself in the construction industry through a wide range of roles and is keen to tell girls that gender should be no barrier to ambition.

Now Chetna Reay, she runs a civil engineering consultancy from her home at Houghton. Her clients include major national firms.

Last year she helped infrastructure support company Amey win a £326m contract to maintain motorways in the Manchester and Liverpool area.

At the meeting to discuss whether the company would employ her, Chetna was the only woman.

She is used to this situation, but the feeling that she is representing her gender can still be nerve-wracking.

When she entered the boardroom her Apple watch told Chetna that her heart rate had soared to 110.

“It can be a bit scary,” she says. “But I wouldn’t put myself in a situation where I wouldn’t know what I was talking about.

“I’m there because I’m worthy of being there, just like the rest of the people in that room.”

Chetna’s early ambition was to be an architect. She moved to Carlisle in 1986, studying Design Crafts at Cumbria College of Art and Design.

She worked at architectural practice Unwin Jones Partnership, where her projects included Eden Valley Hospice.

“I was the architectural technician working alongside the architect. As I had just finished art college, I was asked to work on the interior design elements of the building. We wanted the feel of the place to be more like a nice hotel than a hospital.

“I never realised that a project I helped create would have such an impact on the city. To see the number of people, including my friends and family, that have benefited is really humbling.”

In 1991 Chetna joined Cumbria County Council’s civil engineering department.

Her projects here included transforming post-industrial west Cumbria: landscaping slag banks to look like natural hills; plugging mine shafts with huge caps; designing cycle paths on disused railways.

Chetna was then a trainee engineer with Capita, working at the site of Carlisle’s former 14MU RAF base as it became the Kingmoor Park industrial estate.

She was part of the team that designed the roads so they would later link in with the city’s western bypass.

All these employers were happy for Chetna to attend college on day release. She studied part-time for 10 years before attaining a degree in civil engineering.

This qualification made it easier to set up her own business in 2003.

She was motivated by frustration that “men were being paid more than me for doing the same job. I decided I could do better for myself.”

Chetna also sensed discrimination in some men’s perception of whether a woman belongs in this world. She thinks women can succeed partly because they are willing to admit that they don’t know everything.

“I think a lot of men don’t tell somebody if they don’t understand something. They just carry on. If I don’t understand what someone is telling me, I’ll say ‘Can you tell me again?’ They probably think you’re stupid anyway, so why not ask twice?

“They think you don’t know anything because you’re a woman. I’ve seen that surprised reaction: ‘Oh - she knows what she’s talking about.’”

So much for sexism. Chetna says her Indian heritage has not led to her experiencing racism - at least not in the workplace.

“I faced some racism when I first came to Carlisle. As a youngster I hadn’t realised there were places in the country that weren’t cosmopolitan.

“I was naive and to be honest by the time I’d experienced the racism, it was too late to go back and I’d made lots of good friends. Carlisle is such a lovely place. I’m so happy to live here and to have brought my children up here.

“Any of my friends will say they hate going into town with me because I stop to speak to everyone. They are shocked as I know more people than they do and many of them were born here.

“From a work point of view I’ve never experienced any racism. People are surprised when I say what I do as they tend to assume I’m a doctor or a nurse, which I suppose is stereotyping. But I find it amusing and it doesn’t bother me at all.”

Her business - Construction Risk Consultants Ltd - was successful from the start, albeit with peaks and troughs. Chetna smiles as she remembers trying to win a contract at a time when she had no other work.

“I sat in a room with seven guys. They said ‘How much do you want to be paid?’ I used to be nervous about asking for the right amount of money. I thought on my feet. I said ‘You must know what you want to pay. When you decide if you want me, tell me what you want to pay and I’ll tell you if it’s acceptable.’

“Next day I went back in. They named a daily rate. It was more than I’d expected. But my expression must have looked like ‘I can’t believe you’re only offering me that.’ So they offered more!”

Much of Chetna’s work involves helping companies bid for construction projects. She navigates the minefield of legislation governing quality of work, environmental impact and health and safety. She also audited motorway contracts for Highways England and Transport Scotland, ensuring work was being done as agreed.

Her job involves complex negotiations and difficult decisions. Chetna’s easiest decision was giving away one of her kidneys.

In 2005 her mother Gulabben Patel became ill. She spent two years on a kidney dialysis machine and was told she would die without a transplant.

Chetna was the only family member whose kidney was compatible. The transplant took place in 2007.

“I didn’t really have to think about it because it was my mum. I’ll try 10 lots of clothes on before I decide what to wear. But that was the easiest decision of my life.

“It’s quite surprising how many people I’ve met who have one kidney. I shared an office with a lady who only has one. A lot of people are born with one kidney. It’s slightly different if you donate one. I just have to be careful with my health.

“My mum is still here and healthy. She wouldn’t have lived if it wasn’t for the transplant. People should sign up for organ donation. I’m pleased they’ve just passed that law.”

This means that from spring 2020, all adults in England will be considered an organ donor when they die unless they have recorded a wish not to donate.

As well as Amey, Chetna’s major clients have included Kier and Hanson. She has also given free advice to small local companies. “I don’t mind doing that if it’s going to help people,” she says.

Chetna is a member of The Giraffe Network. This meets in Carlisle every week for business people to support each other, as well as to build contacts.

She knows hundreds of business people, which perhaps helps explain why her friends find going into town with her so time-consuming.

Her husband Tim is a former IT manager who now takes care of admin and IT for the family business.

Tim has sat quietly throughout this interview. Towards the end he says of Chetna: “She’s got such a positive outlook. When things are scary she’ll feel the fear and do it anyway. She won’t think ‘I can’t do that.’ She’ll find a way to do it.”

They have two sons: Will, 23, and Taryn, 18. Will works in technical support for Sky TV in Newcastle. Taryn is taking a Btec diploma in Sport at Carlisle College.

Neither has any interest in following their mother into the construction industry. Chetna is certainly not about to tell anyone that they should follow a particular career path. “I’d rather they were happy,” she says.

It’s a similar message to that which she has followed herself and continues to push to young women.

“If you want to do something, just stick to your guns. There’ll be people out there that are willing to help you.

“All the big companies have women apprentices. Women don’t have to fight for it as much these days. I think employers are scared to discriminate now.

“2003 is not a long time ago but things have changed so much in that time. I wouldn’t be in that situation now. I’d demand my pay was the same as men’s.

“Women in jobs like construction and engineering should be the norm. You still read about a female engineer or a female architect. You don’t read about a male engineer or a male architect. People should just be able to do what they’re good at.”