International Women’s Day: A Reflection

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This International Women’s Day, we are reflecting on the importance of building a fair, inclusive and balanced architectural profession and the steps we continue to take within our own practice to support gender equity.

Over the past four years, we have been actively tracking the gender composition of our practice. In 2022, women represented 38% of our team, increasing to 40% in 2023, 45% in 2025 and now 48% in 2026. This steady progress reflects our ongoing commitment to achieving a balanced 50/50 workforce, which we believe creates a stronger, collaborative practice.

We are committed to ensuring that recruitment, appraisal, personal development and promotion processes are non-discriminatory and free from unconscious bias. Last year, our team completed unconscious bias training with Bristol Women in Business Charter, which has helped inform how we approach both decision and policy making across the practice.

We also have mentoring in place for team members currently undertaking professional training. While this support is not gender-specific, it is designed to provide equal access to guidance, experience and progression opportunities for everyone at gcp Chartered Architects.

Across the UK Architecture profession, women currently hold only around 15% of senior leadership roles. Within our practice, senior leadership is evenly split at 50%, which we are proud to see exceeding the wider industry average. We believe representation at leadership level is essential to creating a workplace where progression feels achievable for all.

For us, gender balance is not just a statistic - it contributes to a healthier culture, broader perspectives, and better outcomes for our team, our projects and our clients. We will continue working towards a profession where equal opportunity is the norm, not the exception.