A Southampton woman working for a construction company has gone from cleaner to trainee assistant site manager in just four years.

Gemma Wort, 30, has shot up the career ladder since losing her job in the retail sector and joining Taurus Cleaning Solutions in 2020.

She was working on a Vistry Group building site near Botley when the housebuilder spotted her potential.

Her hands-on, can-do attitude caught the attention of managers after she asked to do labouring work on top of her cleaning duties.

Gemma said: "The contracts manager and the site manager liked that I was proactive and asked me if I wanted to come on board as a trainee. I put down my toilet brush on the Friday and picked up my laptop on the Monday."

Gemma is hoping will be made up to assistant site manager once she completes her training.

After losing her job at the height of the pandemic she joined Taurus, cleaning the offices and employee facilities at the Vistry Group construction site at Boorley Green.

She began looking around for more to do and asked the site manager if she could carry out some labouring work.

She obtained her CSCS Green Card, which covers health and safety training, and is currently at Vistry's Whiteley Meadows site, where she is the only woman involved in on-site construction work.

“I’ve always been a tomboy. I grew up with the lads and played football and I guess in a way it felt quite normal,” she said.

“Most of the men I’ve worked with have always tried to help me, rather than say ‘oh, it’s a girl!’ There are some old boys who you might think would have an out-of-date attitude with a woman on site, but I can’t fault them. I’ve never had a problem."

Her day-to-day tasks include overseeing work, problem solving and walking the site to ensure health and safety procedures are being followed.

She said: “One day you’re in a muddy field and then you’ve got plots that have gone up and you’ve been part of overseeing everything."

Lucinda Box, marketing manager for Vistry Southern, added: "We are pleased to be able to support and encourage her in her aim of working towards one day becoming a site manager."