In conversation with Rayane Kassal

“You get to learn so much and experience a lot which allows you to grow both professionally and personally.”

- Rayane Kassal

In honour of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), we have a series of eye-opening interviews with inspiring women currently working in the engineering sector.  

Image: Rayane Kassal

Rayane Kassal is a Moroccan Lebanese civil engineer who grew up in Casablanca. She studied civil engineering in France and started her career on one of the biggest hospital jobs in Europe as a junior civil engineer. Rayane moved to London in 2015 after a professional opportunity with her previous employer. She is now a planning manager within Mace on a landmark project in Mayfair.

What project are you working on now, and what’s your role?

I currently work as a planning manager on a “cut and carve” project on St James’s Street in central London. A “cut and carve” project is basically working on an existing building and changing its layout and purpose both structurally and architecturally. Part of the project (and my favourite part) is the heritage building – it used to be the Conservative Members Club back in the late 1800’s.

What does an average day at work look like?

If you asked me this pre-COVID-19, it would have been pretty easy to answer. But since COVID-19, it is quite intense and changing everyday due to the impact on the construction industry.

My role on a construction site is to guide the team by highlighting the key risks, key milestones to achieve and recording the performance of the different trades on a weekly basis. I always see it as writing the story of the project. The beauty of it though is that most of the time the story changes during the process and I need to adapt and find a better story because it must always be a happy ending for us and our client.

How did you get into the industry?

It all started with me wanting to be an astronaut, until the age of 15 when I realised that we don’t have those kinds of opportunities in Morocco where I grew up! It might seem a bit of a cheesy story but what led me to choosing civil engineering was actually a war.

In 2006, I spent my summer in Beirut (in Lebanon, my mum is half Lebanese) when suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of an unexpected war. After 10 days, we fled Beirut to find safety in Syria. On the 4 hour journey between the two countries, I saw bridges, buildings, roads and monuments destroyed and realised at 16 years old, that this is what I wanted to do: learn how to (re)build them!

What do you love about the construction industry ?

It’s straight forward: it’s one of the few jobs where you get to see what you’ve achieved anytime for the next 20/30 years at least. The best is when you work on a landmark project, something like the Shard or London Eye that is famous worldwide!

What is the biggest misconception about construction?

I guess as a woman in construction, I often get asked: “Oh is it not too hard? Are there many girls?”. Yes, it is a macho industry, but it has changed a lot in the last years and as I always answer: I usually get treated better than my male colleagues as the supply chain etc. tends to be more respectful. The misconception I think comes from the fact that most of the people associate construction industry with only builders or actual trade works. Of course, without the builders we won’t be achieving much but there is so much more happening “behind the scenes”.

What is the funniest thing that’s happened at work?

Back in 2015, I was working in Canning Town (east London) and was looking after the earthworks. We had a big milestone to hit which was the delivery of the piling rig from France. After being postponed twice, the rig finally arrived at 8.00 pm. We were all celebrating until we realised that the big lorry carrying it hadn’t moved for a while. When I went to check I realised that the lorry was blocked, as it was wider than the street, and this was causing a massive traffic jam for those who were trying to exit the A13. The only solution we had and with the help of the police was to reverse the lorry backwards. The next problem we faced was that the lorry was too heavy to go onto the flyover of the A13 and the only option was to send the lorry backwards! With the help of the highway maintenance team and the police, we blocked the A13 both ways and made a 40m lorry make a U-Turn which took around 25 minutes. Trust me that day wasn’t funny at all but we started laughing about it after few weeks and now I’m writing about it as being my funniest story!

Would you recommend the construction industry to a young person, and why?

The construction industry has so much to offer in terms of opportunity, not just in engineering. We need different types of profiles and backgrounds so don’t let this stop you from applying to the construction sector. Of course, the industry is very demanding and challenging but as a young person you get to learn so much and experience a lot which allows you to grow both professionally and personally.

If you could change anything about the industry what would it be?

Tough question! Nothing is ever perfect, but I guess the main thing that we could be doing better is industrialising the construction process to reduce our wastage. It is a fact that construction sites are big polluters (especially when using concrete) and the waste that we produce is phenomenal. A lot of things are already improving to reduce our CO2 footprint, but I think we could be doing much more by engaging with our client at an early stage and introducing just-in-time deliveries and a better overall sustainable approach.