42 Roles in the Built Environment - Construction Owner

"Generally, construction is a hard industry to be in. When it’s going well, it’s so rewarding and it’s such a fabulous sector – you could start as a joiner and become a managing director in 15 years. There is a breadth of different roles you can become, and I don’t think there’s another sector like it. But it is a hard sector. It’s very timebound, it’s quite transient, you have to be able to work as a team - because it’s all about collaboration" - Nicola Hodkinson

Nicola Hodkinson is owner and director of family managed contracting and house-building business, Seddon, where her role is all about ‘people’ – people Seddon employ and people Seddon work for.

Her role encompasses everything from overseeing employee wellbeing to company culture and upholding the Seddon values.

Nicola believes that an inclusive workplace is a better workplace and fits with her mantra that ‘everyone deserves to have a good day at work.’ Her work with Girls Out Loud, where she now sits on the Advisory Board, demonstrates her commitment to ‘closing the gap’ and making construction a more inclusive industry.

As an advocate for mental health awareness in the workplace and more specifically, the construction industry Nicola became a trustee board member for leading UK mental health charity Mates in Mind. In 2017, she led on the businesses new approach to mental health with the launch of the award-winning Jordan’s Conversation initiative, a campaign that set out to let everybody know that ‘it was ok, not to be ok’.

As a passionate promoter of careers in construction she has been championing apprenticeships for many years and has worked hard to build strong industry connections to create a hub of knowledge and opportunities for construction skills. She believes that we need to celebrate apprenticeships more and look at alternative pathways to bring more talent into construction.

Nicola is the first female to be appointed to the Seddon board and helps to steer the family business alongside her brothers Jonathan and Jamie Seddon. Upholding family values is important to Nicola who believes that ‘how a business operates is as important as what they do’ and with this in mind aims to create a business that is productive with a happy workforce, where employee wellbeing is as important as profit.

As a custodian of the Seddon family business and as fourth generation Nicola wants to ensure she is looking after and developing the business for the future, assuring longevity and a sustainable future for the next generation of the Seddon family and the families it employs.