Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
Explore the University of Technology Sydney
Category Filters:
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... Newsroom
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... 2022
  4. arrow_forward_ios 04
  5. arrow_forward_ios Kate Heaney

Kate Heaney

21 April 2022

Smashing the concrete ceiling

Find out more

Bachelor of Construction Project Management

Kate Heaney never planned to become an executive at one of Australia’s largest commercial real estate services companies. In fact, before she enrolled in the UTS Bachelor of Construction Project Management, she never really planned to become a property professional at all.

“Going through high school, I considered architecture and economics. But my dad said to me, ‘Hey, you should look at a building degree. One, because you’re too bossy for architecture, and two, you’re going to get very bored in economics,’” she says.

This was back in the late 80s, a time when the words ‘women’ and ‘construction’ were pretty unlikely to appear in the same sentence. But Kate was undeterred, enrolling in the UTS construction degree and embarking on what would eventually become a career that now spans 30 years.

At the top of the property industry game

Today, Kate is the Head of Client Care at CBRE, leading the organisation’s strategic client engagement program in the Pacific region. She is also part of CBRE’s Executive Committee and heads up the company’s growth platform, which encompasses services like research, pitch management, sales management and client-facing digital tools.

But she didn’t start at the top. In fact, her first job out of uni was as a site foreman for a company called Concrete Constructions, which her construction industry colleagues had nicknamed the School of Hard Knocks.

“It was just a really aggressive, tough company, but amazing to work for,” she says.

Kate rose quickly through the ranks, from foreman to site manager to project manager within a few short years, despite often being the only woman on site. A lot of the work was familiar – back then, her UTS course had combined classroom learning with a four-year cadetship, which meant she already had a few years of site experience under her belt.

From there, she moved into project management consulting, spent time in London working for a leading investment bank, and completed a Master of Project Management back at UTS. A few years later, she found herself at CBRE.

Paving the way for women in property  

Today, she’s working hard to shape the CBRE client experience – but she hasn’t forgotten what it was like to be a woman trying to carve out her place in the vastly male-dominated property sector. To that end, she’s doing her bit to pave the way for the next generation of female property professionals as a mentor and champion for the young women who work alongside her.

“Diversity of thought is so critical in business,” she says.

“I think at the most basic level, women bring different ideas, a different way of looking at things, that’s far more beneficial to good decision making.”

And property offers a lot for women to be excited about – while the industry is yet to achieve gender parity, particularly in areas like construction, there has been what Kate describes as a “quantum leap of change” over the last 30 years.

Not only are female-focused programs and support networks becoming increasingly visible across the sector, but businesses are actively looking for ways to recruit and retain female employees. CBRE is one of them:  the company is currently in discussions with UTS to establish an ongoing construction scholarship for female students.

If you ask Kate, the UTS degree is the perfect place for young women to start building the foundations of an exciting, long-lived career. 

kate heaney

What I’ve realised is the learnings and the cut and thrust of my degree, because it’s such a diverse degree in terms of subject matter and the people I mixed with, because of the time management required to do a cadetship and a degree at the same time – there’s so many foundational things that came out of it that still inform my work today.

 

Share
Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn
Back to Testimonials

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility