These are the faces of some women who have signed up to careers in engineering and if a Croydon-based company is successful then thousands more will follow.

TPS Schal is about to launch Project SNOWE; a pledge to increase the number of apprenticeships fivefold over the next five years.

The business is also hoping to keep women engineers in the job by launching a support network for women in operational roles.

And its staff will be going into schools in Croydon to inspire girls to start thinking about engineering as a career.

TPS Schal director Joan Murray, who heads the company’s construction compliance, surveying and project management division, said: “By working together, along with other industries, organisations and government, we can open up opportunities to a whole sector of the population which may never have considered working in technology and engineering in the past.”