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| Girls’ Day: A full programme of events for tomorrow’s women engineers  Breaking stereotypes and presenting alternatives to conventional educational options – that is the goal of Girls'Day in Germany and its equivalent in Austria, Töchtertag. The technology group Strabag aspires to do the same, and so its subsidiaries Strabag AG, Ed. Züblin AG and Strabag PFS again joined the action for this year's Girls' Day on 23 April 2015 with a number of different events to introduce school girls to the group.A visit to what will soon be Vienna's longest underground line For the fourth year in a row, Strabag AG was one of more than 150 companies to participate in Wiener Töchtertag (Vienna Daughters' Day). The company invited 17 girls between the ages of 11 and 16 for a tour of a tunnel of Vienna's U1 underground line. But first, Christian Haumer, site manager for the construction section U1/19 Altes Landgut, described the ins and outs of working on a construction site. The girls wasted no time to ask what working in a tunnel was like and to inquire about the opportunities for women in tunnelling. For those who want to know: The opportunities are good – there are more women in tunnelling than one would think. Wearing safety helmets and vests, the group entered the construction site and the tunnel – among them 13-year-old Magdalena Ondrasch, whose father worked on a tunnelling project for Strabag in Canada. "We all went with him to Canada for three years. At the time, I was too small for a tunnel tour, so I definitely wanted to catch up on that." After a lunch break and a showing of the corporate film in the company's head office, the girls tested their knowledge with a quiz – for a chance to win some Strabag goodies. Then Julia Schuster from Strabag-Kunstforum took the girls for a tour of the headquarters and explained the meaning behind many of the works of art that are on display there. Finally, division manager Theodor Klais and Victoria Konova from the Strabag legal department provided some insights into their daily routine and briefly outlined the educational options. Varied and diverse programme in Frankfurt For Ed. Züblin AG in Frankfurt, Girls' Day 2015 also was a complete success. The prospective female engineers were treated to an intense schedule of construction site visits – with work in full swing for some impressive perspectives and insights. As soon as the 17 girls received the required safety equipment, the tour got started through the construction sites for MerzKrome (new construction of hotel, offices, residences and underground car park), St. Martin Tower (office tower) and Maintor Palazzi (residences). The site visits gave the young women a chance to meet some women engineers at work in site management. In the afternoon, they met some women civil engineers who reported on their technical office work (estimation) and work planning and commented on their motivation and career paths. A commercial project manager explained her many tasks on the construction site and described her role as liaison between the commercial and technical sides. The day ended with a talk that included an open question and answer session. Mixing, pouring, wow! Practical applications in Stuttgart Ed. Züblin AG's Stuttgart sub-division also offered 16 girls an exciting programme of events on Girls' Day. Chief engineer Susanne Mayer, who has been part of the S21 underground station team for three years, played tour guide for the day. Following a presentation of the training and educational options at Züblin, Mayer presented the S21 project with a focus on those sections being carried out by Züblin. Using a self-made model, she explained the function and construction of an excavation bracing and answered the girls' questions, such as what happens to buildings, streets and traffic when tracks are supposed to be laid underneath them. Wearing safety boots, helmets and vests, the group made its way to the impressive construction site to observe the various stages of construction in action. A highlight of the tour was the production of a small block of cement which the girls could take home as a paperweight. The formwork had been prepared especially for this purpose by Project Manager Thomas Hauser. The girls assembled the formwork, mixed the quick-setting cement and poured the cement into the forms. Their conclusion: "An awesome idea!" The feedback from Girls' Day shows that half of the young women could imagine a career at Züblin to follow in the footsteps of people like Susanne Mayer. And given the size of the safety boots, those are big steps to follow! A glimpse at six facilities of Strabag Property and Facility Services (PFS) In a repeat of the previous years, STRABAG PFS again took part in the career orientation day this year. The hard-working employees at six locations in Germany welcomed a total of 60 girls this year to interest them in a career in the commercial-technical field. "We want to increase the percentage of women in the commercial field, " says Gaby Galinsky-Gallner, Strabag PFS representative for equal opportunity and diversity. Besides a corporate presentation and explanations of the apprenticeship occupations offered at Strabag PFS, there was also plenty of fun to be had that day: soldering, screwing, gluing, cutting and – of course – a tour of the buildings and of the services engineering were all part of the day. write your comments about the article :: © 2015 Construction News :: home page |