Arup honoured at Top Women Awards ceremony

22 Aug 2014

Arup, the creative force at the heart of many of the world's most prominent projects in the built environment, won the Top Gender Empowered Company: Chemicals & Construction at the 11th annual Top Women Awards ceremony which was recently held at Emperor's Palace in Johannesburg.

Charlotte Middleton, associate and marketing and communications manager, Arup

The awards are a collaborative platform dedicated to recognising leadership, inspiration, vision and innovation in organisations that have stepped up and shaped women's roles within the private and public sectors. The awards categories reflect a wide spectrum of work these deserving women from the public and private sectors are involved in.

This year, over 160 companies from a range of sectors, including agriculture, science and technology, transport and retail entered the awards. In order to be short-listed as a finalist, companies had to meet certain criteria, such as an annual turnover of R35m or more, 30% female staff, 10% and above female senior management and 1-1.5% of per capita expenditure spent on skills development for women.

Education Trust

"We are delighted to have won this award in our sector," says Charlotte Middleton, associate and marketing and communications manager. "It is a reflection of the importance Arup places on reinvesting in intellectual capital.

"A large part of that reinvestment is the Arup Education Trust, which owns 30% of Arup in South Africa. Focused on giving holistic bursaries to deserving disadvantaged youth for their studies in the build environment, the Education Trust focuses primarily on women.

"It also adds to our accolades, as last month, two of our women engineers were part of the six finalists for Transport Personality of the Year, part of the Africa Transport 2014 Awards and Salome van Rhyn, an associate at Arup, won this award."