18 Mar 2024
Cracking the glass ceiling: Sinead McKerr on the myriad opportunities for women in industrial development
Moments after she was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2021, Sinead McKerr returned to her empty apartment in Sydney, Australia – where she lived alone – to process the life-changing news.
That moment, all she wanted was to be with her family – an impossibility considering borders were closed and they were tens of thousands of kilometres away in Ireland.
But while she was alone, she was far from lonely. Then a Senior Cost Planner at Frasers Property Industrial in Australia, Sinead’s next line of support was her colleagues and superiors at work.
“I wanted to work when I could because what else was I going to do?” Sinead recounted. On top of much-appreciated welfare packages and flowers, she was offered a great deal of flexibility over her work schedule by working from home while undergoing treatment.
“Part of the reason I’m still here is because of that support during that time,” she said, now in her ninth year at Frasers Property.
She has been at the forefront of Australia’s industrial and logistics sector, a significant contributor to the economy that is forecasted to grow by 48 per cent from A$286 billion to A$424 billion by 2026. While women in industrial real estate have traditionally been underrepresented, women like Sinead are breaking barriers and paving the way for more opportunities for female participation and advancement in the sector.
Paving diverse pathways
The industrial and logistics sector has long suffered from an image problem – that in addition to being perceived to be about just sheds and trucks, it is stereotypically seen as the domain of men.
“It’s actually a lot more sophisticated than that,” said Sinead, having assumed a range of different roles in her career at Frasers Property.
When she first joined the company as a Cost Planner, her job was to provide cost advice and benchmarking analysis to the construction, development and acquisitions teams across multiple development projects.
It was after being promoted to Senior Cost Planner that she had her first exposure to design – and a newfound revelation about her professional journey. “I also provided feedback and recommendations on design from a cost perspective, whilst leading design in our National Design Brief,” she explained. “With more exposure, I could see that my passion lay in the design development of our properties.”
A decisive switch
After much deliberation, she decided to make the switch, but not without first undergoing an internal career planning programme. More than a year later in January 2024, she became Frasers Property Industrial’s first Design Development Manager in Australia.
The role was newly created to align the company’s existing guidelines on design and procurement to ensure a consistent design language and quality in its buildings on a national level – down to the finest details. Sinead will work with builders to manage national procurement and design development during construction handovers.
Her experience working with diverse teams in cost planning came in useful. Today, she continues to collaborate closely with the delivery, development and asset management teams, as well as third-party contractors, on everything from landscaping to amenities.
The opportunities of industrial real estate
While many may have the impression that industrial real estate is less glamorous than its retail or residential counterparts, this could not be further from the truth.
Frasers Property, in particular, places a huge emphasis on the health, well-being and connectedness of tenants, occupiers and visitors.
For instance, the 60 hectare Vantage Yatala in Stapylton, Queensland, features over 2.3 hectares of green open space, solar photovoltaic integrated warehouses, and a 5 Green Star Rating for all facilities. Similarly, The YARDS, a 77 hectare estate in Kemps Creek, Sydney, will have sustainability initiatives precinct-wide with parks, walking and cycle tracks, solar, water harvesting and recycling, and fossil fuel-free energy sources.
Vantage Yatala, a 60+ hectare estate in Stapylton, Queensland, will showcase the very best in accessibility, efficiency, amenity and sustainability for industrial property.
“Industrial buildings have evolved a lot in the past 10 years to be more than just square boxes,” she said. “We now build sustainable buildings that have a focus on the health and well-being of the end user.”
The YARDS, a 77 hectare estate in Kemps Creek, Sydney, will have sustainability initiatives precinct-wide with parks, walking and cycle tracks, solar, water harvesting and recycling, and fossil fuel-free energy sources.
Championing women in the sector
Despite the evolution of the sector, it is not usually the first choice for women looking to enter real estate.
The main issue is that it is hardly advertised as a viable or attractive career choice in school. “When I applied to Frasers Property, I initially thought it was for residential development,” Sinead admitted. Like her, a lot of people “fall into industrial by luck”.
Having experienced firsthand the opportunities the sector has to offer, she joined Women in Industrial (WiN) in 2017. The industry body is co-founded by Frasers Property’s industrial business unit and aims to promote greater diversity in the sector. At this point, the business unit almost has an even distribution of male and female employees.
As a WiN sub-committee member, Sinead is involved in planning events for like-minded women in the industry and graduates to connect. Just last year, WIN held two major networking events in Victoria and New South Wales that drew a healthy turnout of 120 participants each.
Supporting and empowering women in real estate
Change goes beyond just representation. To truly attract and retain talent, it remains equally important to support women across different stages of their careers.
This means embracing flexible work arrangements and offering robust mental health support so that women know they have a place in the workforce, even after returning from long breaks like maternity leave or going through lifechanging events.
“When I became unwell, I could’ve easily fallen out of the industry, but the support that I got through this time enabled me to stay in the industry,” said Sinead, whose cancer is currently in remission.
Ultimately, she believes the industry is on the right track in supporting women’s growing roles in property development.
“There are so many roles, from development managers to architects to consultants…We really get to showcase what we can bring to the table,” she said. Definitely a lot more than just trucks and sheds.