Construction still remains very much a man's world.

But CATHERINE BRUCE talked to a woman who ignored the stereotypes and forged a successful career as a builder.

PRIMARY school teaching might not seem the usual foundation to a career in construction.

But Christine Wood insists the two roles are much more similar than you would think.

The planning, organisation and management skills she picked up in the classroom have proved invaluable on the building site.

Giving up her role as head teacher at Ripley Endowed Primary School 18 years ago, Christine, 52, threw herself into the predominantly-male world of building.

She set up a company, J H Wood and Company Developments Ltd, with her husband, who was already involved in the construction industry.

Her CV is impressive. In 2002 she was awarded the MBE for services to construction, and before that she served terms as the chairman of the National Federation of Builders in the North East and Yorkshire, and the president of the Yorkshire Builders Federation. But despite her high-level involvement in several building organisations, she is not afraid of getting her hands dirty.

"Most of the time I am on site labouring. I have a very mixed role," she said.

"I tend to be on site daily making sure everything runs according to plan."

She is just as at home loading up a scaffold as she is designing the houses and applying for planning permission for her ideas. The idea to leave teaching and get involved in building houses came from Christine's frustration at being unable to find the home she wanted.

Many of the properties she looked at were badly designed, so she decided to see if she could do better.

"We specialise in individual houses. We don't build the same house twice," she said.

Christine, who lives in Copgrove, near Boroughbridge, is currently scaling down the business, which is based at Harrogate Business Park, in preparation for retirement. But she is very keen to see more women following in her footsteps.

She said: "I have had so much fun and personal satisfaction from construction. It's so dynamic and exciting. It is very rewarding and you get a finished article at the end of it.

"The building industry is the biggest industry we have in the country and only about nine per cent of people coming in are women."

She said once people got started they had a lot of opportunities to progress their career.

"It is possible to enter at shop floor level and progress to the top.

"This in itself could appeal to young girls with ability and ambition."

She admitted that entering a building site for the first time could be a bit daunting for a woman, but said she has never experienced any prejudice because of her gender.

Updated: 10:09 Wednesday, June 23, 2004