- The business group has held the third edition of its ‘Building on Equality’ conference, reinforcing its commitment to equality and inclusion.
- Representatives of the group’s partner companies such as AWS, CBRE IM, Quark and PowerCo took part in the round table.
Valencia, March 13th 2025.– CYCLUS Group, a benchmark company in the provision of comprehensive services in the industrial construction sector, has organised the third edition of its ‘Building on Equality’ conference on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
The parent company, which owns companies such as ALONDRA, ITERCON and SERVITRIA, has brought together leading women from the sector with the aim of reflecting on their role in the industry, as well as analysing the evolution in terms of equality that has been experienced in recent years. As in previous editions, as part of the meeting, a round table discussion was held in which the speakers, in addition to sharing their own experiences throughout their careers, encouraged those attending the event to promote female talent and equality.
Pilar Anastasio, head of the CSA department at Quark, emphasised how offering a trusting work environment makes a difference: ‘When you offer equal opportunities, women who feel supported tend to be more proactive, responsible and the results are fantastic, based on that freedom and security’.
Nadine Ilgenstein, Head of Culture, Diversity and Personal Development at PowerCo in Spain and Germany, spoke in favour of some of the tools promoted by companies to make progress in this area, such as mentoring and coaching sessions. She also stressed the need to ‘integrate men into the discussion’ on equal opportunities, as this is an issue that affects society as a whole.
Paloma Frutos, Manager of Construction Procurement for Data Centres at Amazon Web Services for EMEA, explained how she started out in an eminently male-dominated sector such as the construction industry, and she advocated encouraging support among female colleagues in the face of day-to-day difficulties: ‘Sometimes we women set our own stones. If we see a colleague who needs a hand, we will cover for her and encourage support among ourselves’.
Another of the speakers at the table, Paloma Santa Olalla, Asset Management analyst at CBRE IM, addressed the importance of having role models and examples from the earliest stages of training. ‘It is a socio-cultural and educational issue. When I was a child, I had no female role models in this sector, and I believe that greater visibility would help to attract more women to this industry’, she stressed.
The speakers agreed on the importance of companies offering flexibility and prioritising the focus on results as allies for work-life balance, promoting models such as teleworking or flexible working hours.
Commitment with equality
The CYCLUS Group has been working for years in different departments to make equality effective through various actions and initiatives with the aim of achieving an egalitarian working environment. The company currently has equality plans and agents responsible for their application and compliance.
The company’s commitment is reflected in its figures, as 24% of the people who make up the CYCLUS Group are currently women, which is more than 12 points higher than the average for the sector in Spain, which according to a report by the Industrial Construction Observatory stands at 11%. Thus, equality is worked from a cross-cutting perspective and 25% of management positions already have female representatives.