Why Building People?
The built environment is a sector with a skills crisis and a significant diversity challenge.
There are many organisations and initiatives working incredibly hard to change this, often without sufficient resource and support for their voices to be properly heard and their work seen.
At Building People, we try to change this by amplifying the voices of the under-represented, enabling connections, providing strategic leadership and driving collective action.
Building People is endorsed by the Construction Leadership Council
What do we do at Building People?
We connect diverse talent, employers and support organisations across the built environment, with a laser focus on under-representation and inclusion.
The sector is fragmented – great work is taking place, but often in isolation.
We turn disconnected efforts into a coordinated system to increase diversity, fill skills gaps and improve outcomes.
We amplify the voices of the under-represented, empowering a Network of Networks that has the reach into the people our sector needs.
We enable cross-sector leadership on systemic issues that no single body can credibly solve alone.
We drive collaboration and collective action, always working towards a unified voice for behavioural and cultural change.
Our commitment is to reduce fragmentation, avoid duplication and drive collaboration.
Core Team
Rebecca Lovelace
Rebecca is the Founder and Chief Dot-joiner at Building People. With over 25 years’ experience in industry, she brings expertise in creating connections between people and organisations, working strategically with multiple stakeholders to drive a ‘one voice’ approach to equity, diversity and inclusion across the sector. Rebecca is passionate about ‘joining the dots’ and avoiding duplication of effort.
Rebecca is a co-founder of Be Onsite and BuildForce and holds an MSc in Urban Regeneration. She is the Deputy Chair of the Construction Industry Council’s EDI committee and in 2022 was named one of the NFB’s Top 100 Influential Women in Construction and awarded CIOB’s inaugural individual award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Rebecca is also a member of and coordinates the Construction Leadership Council’s EDI steering group.
Marsha Ramroop
Marsha is the Executive Director of EDI at Building People. She also runs her own strategic inclusion consultancy Unheard Voice and is the former Director of Inclusion and Diversity at the Royal Institute of British Architects. Her work there was recognised with global awards.
Marsha tackles the gap between intention and action with behavioural solutions to ensure successful creation, implementation and enforcement of policies, procedures and practices to mitigate the impact of bias. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Institute of Diversity and Equality Professionals, and the author of ‘Building Inclusion: A Practical Guide to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Architecture and the Built Environment’. Marsha is also a member of the Construction Leadership Council’s EDI steering group.
Our Work
Priority activities for Building People in 2026 include:
Gender MoU January-December 2026
Bringing together 35+ gender networks across the sector to jointly create a shared Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Action Plan to support future collaboration, reducing fragmentation and enabling collective action. We intend to continue this work through another formal MoU, this time for the youth audience in partnership with the Built Environment Schools Trust, and then to all other identity groups. More information about the Gender MoU project here.
Culture Change Funding application stage
Focusing on culture change in the sector via individual, leadership and organisational behavioural competencies.
Collaboration Infrastructure
Continuing to grow and expand the Network of Networks, amplifying voices and connecting practical activity with strategic and joined-up leadership opportunities.
Strategic Leadership
Through our ongoing work with the Construction Leadership Council, we uniquely bridge the gap between leadership and lived experience, connecting high-level decision-making with practical, grassroots action.
Our Mission and Values
The Building People mission is to improve representation across the built environment by enabling and empowering a collaborative movement for inclusive change.
Building People is a Community Interest Company, founded in 2017 upon the following values:
Simplicity
We reduce fragmentation. We make it easier to find what already exists. We join things together. We’re accessible.
Collaboration
We connect a Network of Networks. We don’t duplicate effort. We join the dots. We bring together people, needs and opportunities. We work inclusively across difference.
Trust
We’re committed to the whole built environment sector. We are for everybody. We act with integrity, reliability, honesty and transparency.
Courage
We’re passionate about what we do. We believe in change and our ability to drive it. We lead. We are a voice for others.
Innovation
We listen. We do things differently. We’re open to ideas and challenge from others. We’re proactive with solutions.
Our Belief
The culture of the built environment is ours to change.