New Leadership for CIC’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee

The Diversity & Inclusion Committee is a collaborative forum and platform for members of all construction disciplines and professional bodies to identify and promote diversity policy and activities within the construction industry.

With almost 30 years of industry experience Bola is a Fellow of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Member of the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB) and the Chair and Founder of DiverseCity Surveyors (DCS), a successful, peer-to-peer network for BAME surveyors, set up in 2006. Bola has recently become the Digital Director for the BIM Academy and (as of September 2022) completed a 32 month secondment at Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) where he co-authored the Gemini Papers and the Digital Twin toolkit.

Bola was awarded an OBE for services to Diversity and to Young People in the Construction Industry in the 2019 New Years honours list.

Bola Abisogun OBE went on to say: “The challenge of co-curating a totally inclusive (and representative) built environment sector, where all stakeholders and participants, are afforded the genuine, unconditional opportunity to bring their whole self to the workplace, is something that I have strived to achieve since August 2000, on my return from a trip to Atlanta in the USA. Although the DEI conversation continues to be a global product, it is patently obvious to myself and others, that if the UK construction sector is to achieve its true potential and mitigate the ‘leaky pipe of retention’ then all protected characteristics should remain of equal importance. Such an ambition cannot be achieved without the unfailing support and leadership of the CIC; to which I am now humble and happy to support as the D&I Champion”.

Rebecca Lovelace, who will be joining Bola on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee as Deputy Chair, is Founder and Chief Dot-joiner at Building People. Building People is a hub for equity, diversity and inclusion in the built environment that brings together a ‘network of networks’ of organisations to strategically amplify voices, to enable collaboration and to improve connections between industry and the diverse and under-represented people the sector needs.

Rebecca has over twenty years’ experience in creating and connecting organisations, networks and partnerships across construction and the built environment. She has an MSc in Urban Regeneration, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 2022 was honoured to receive the CIOB’s inaugural award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Individual), and to be named one of the Top 100 Influential Women in Construction by the National Federation of Builders.

Rebecca Lovelace commented: “With over 200 professional bodies, trade associations and industry groups operating across our fragmented sector, I believe that the CIC has a vital leadership role to play in bringing people and organisations together, and in supporting practical and strategic collaboration to achieve the vision of an equitable, diverse and inclusive built environment sector. I am looking forward to working closely with Bola, CIC members and all those driving change to make this happen together.”

CIC Chair Justin Sullivan welcomed the appointments saying; “We are delighted to welcome Bola and Rebecca onto the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Between them they have a massive wealth of experience and expertise that will be invaluable for the Committee and the work it is doing for both our members and the industry as a whole. I look forward to working with them both and supporting the work of the committee. I would also like to thank Maria Coulter and Louise Clarke for their time as Chair and Deputy Chair respectively and all the work they carried out during their term”.