Natasha Davis

01. What is your name and role?

My Name is Natasha Davis and I am an Assistant Site Manager

02. What project are you on?

I am currently working on a 7-storey shell and core in Cambridge called 2000 Discovery Drive.

03. What made you choose a role in construction industry?

My dad has always worked in construction and when I was really little he would sometimes take me to work with him on a Saturday which I loved. Then when I was older I did my A-levels and didn’t really know what I wanted to do after that. I went straight into full time work for a small snagging company very local to me. They exposed me to people-management and planning from an office perspective and I enjoyed that but wanted to use those skills in bigger, more hands-on way. My dad then suggested I get into planning, so I did with SDC, but as a trainee I preferred my placement in site management, and so here we are 3 and a half years later!

04. What are the main tasks and responsibilities you handle on a regular day as a Assistant Site Manager?

As a team we usually share the load of safe starts before operatives are allowed on site in the morning. This is a walk around to make sure site is as we left it the night before and access routes, exclusion zones etc are of a safe standard. We also share the load of inductions in the morning, this can take up to an hour depending on the amount of people we have. We issue permits in the morning for the days work and then monitor these throughout the day on site. And then the rest of the day is spent helping to co-ordinate the work happening that day, making sure everyone on site is getting along, making sure that trades are following their safe systems of work, and planning ahead for the next day, the next week, just making sure we’re progressing on site as per programme and pushing in areas that we may be delayed in.

05. How did you get started in the industry, and what was your path to becoming an Assistant Site Manager?

So, I started at SDC as a management trainee in October 2022. This is a trainee scheme SDC runs that allows full time on the job learning and exposure to nearly all departments within the company. My first placement was in planning and programming on a project at Babraham Biomedical Campus in Cambridge. Then once I’d got the hang of that, my placement was combined with site engineering for 3 months on the same project. That was particularly helpful, especially so early in my career as someone who was basically completely green. When my engineering placement ended, I continued as a planner on the project and also picked up some site management. My team at the time had welcomed me so gladly and helped expose me to as many aspects of the project as possible. They definitely played a massive part in my decision to pursue site management in the future.

When the Babraham Project handed over in February 2024, I was moved onto a job called The Optic. This is where I met a lot of my current team. I began on the Optic as a trainee in the design department, helping to manage the design of the toilet cores and shower areas, which helped me to understand the process design co-ordinators have to follow when requesting information and reviewing drawings. After a placement of 3 months, I continued to monitor the movement of those design packages, whilst also diving into the mechanical and electrical services management on the job. This experience was completely invaluable. To have a decent understanding of the different ways a building runs once it’s handed over, as well as the processes of install, testing and commissioning of services is vital to being able to successfully run a site as a site manager. I stayed in the M&E department until handover of the job, which is when I finally confirmed my decision to get into site management.

My next project was 2000 Discovery Drive, which is also where I’m currently based. I have been on this site since February 2025 and within the last year I am confident I have developed substantially. I have seen this job progress from site set up and enabling works, through the concrete frame and groundworks, all the way to where we are now, finishing internals, installing large plant equipment, and making headway on the facade and externals. Whilst the framework was well underway, I was placed with the BPS department for a month, shadowing advisors and the compliance manager around different sites. I enjoyed getting to see how other sites are set up and how different site teams work together, as well as learning from their health and safety mistakes and best practices! Once I completed my placement in BPS I was promoted from trainee to Assistant Site Manager, and returned back to 2000 Discovery Drive.

The site team here works so hard to not only progress the job as much as possible, but also to progress my knowledge and understanding as an Assistant gunning for that Site Manager title in the future. I couldn’t be more grateful for their help.

Throughout my trainee to assistant journey, I have also always had a direct line of communication as well as regular reviews with my director mentor. These reviews helped keep my career development on track as well as bespoke to what I felt I needed.

06. How would you describe your experience working as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field?

It was definitely nerve-wracking to begin with. My first team would tell you I basically didn’t speak for the first couple of weeks I was so nervous! Slowly but surely my confidence grew and I came out of my shell. Once I recognised that I had the support of the people around me it became much easier to insert myself into conversations and meetings that I wouldn’t have previously felt the confidence to speak in. And here I am, 3 and a half years later, running meetings and inductions by myself with ease.

07. What advice would you give to women aspiring to become Site Managers?

Bite the bullet. It’s not going to be easy at the start as there are still men working in construction that have never seen a woman on site before, and a few of those men will think we don’t belong on site. So become a site manager and prove them wrong. But do it for yourself too. If you want a career that will push you to your limit, make you question what you’re doing, how you’re going to do it and why you really need to do it, as well as show you the rewards of your hard work, then site management is definitely for you