by Andrea Davison, NZGBC
Workplace diversity and equity is something being tackled in many industries, many locations and by many methods – from blind orchestral auditions, to anonymous coding challenges in silicon valley, generous family leave allowances in large accounting consultancies, to enforcement of gender pay equity through legislation in Iceland.
Paradigms are being challenged and practices changed, both in initial recruitment and in employee retention and promotion.
We are proud to be one of the founding partners of The Diversity Agenda – an initiative launched by the New Zealand Institute of Architects, Engineering New Zealand and the Association of Consulting Engineers to encourage gender diversity in the engineering and architectural professions.
What does any of this have to do with Green Star?
Green Star rewards and celebrates excellence in buildings regardless of their aesthetic characteristics. Everything from glassy towers in Auckland, heritage buildings in Wellington, industrial warehouses, schools, hospitals, and churches, whether new or refurbished, are assessed objectively for their performance characteristics rather than subjectively for their design prowess. While there is some variance in criteria dependent upon circumstance (for example climate zone and building function), as a whole, the framework is holistic, and enables objective assessment of a building’s attributes against best practice standards.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate beautiful buildings. Buildings we love, we will look after, we will treasure. Green Star is not an architectural award, and nor is our workplace a beauty pageant. We all deserve to have our workplace performance assessed fairly, equitably and objectively, regardless of our gender, ethnicity or age.