The long hours and hard work have been worth it for one local architect who has been recognised for playing a pivotal role in the region's construction industry.
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Gioia Gianniotis from GPG Architecture and Design won the inaugural award for Master Builders Association Women in Construction on August 16.
She hopes her award will inspire future young women to enter the building sector as well as raising awareness of the opportunities outside of labour heavy roles.
"When I finished university it was about 50 per cent of girls and boys, but when we went into practice that was when we started to lose a lot of women," she said.
"In the construction industry it's really prevalent and I don't think [women] realise that there's many career opportunities, such as a consultant, a project manager or stepping up into an administrative role, outside of the stock standard architect or builder roles.
"This award is not about me; I want to make it about women in construction. ... I have all these ideas about how we can get women into construction and one of them is to be able to promote female leaders that girls can look up to."
Mrs Gianniotis will continue the push for more mentors and senior positions held by women as well as encouraging female students interested in construction to apply for work experience.
PAH Construction's operation manager Bec Hopper previously told The Daily Advertiser of her desire to support more women in the trade and break down barriers.
