NAWIC has held
their Excellence Awards for five years, and this year is delighted to partner
with BCITO. The premier award is named for famous architect and Professor Helen
Tippett, who blazed a very bright trail for women in the construction sector.
Emeritus Professor
of Victoria University Helen Tippett (1933-2004) also championed
inter-disciplinary work – something still not always considered fully. She
was widely regarded as the grandmother of the industry and it was at her behest
the National Association of Women in
Construction NZ (NAWIC) was established in New Zealand.
Her career included
many firsts for Australasia and architecture, and she is an ideal person for
women across all the construction industries to look up to, NAWIC believes.
Mrs Tippett trained
as an architect in Melbourne in the 1950s and had a lifelong commitment to
design that worked for its end users, not just on paper. She had wide
experience across the architecture industry, from working in architectural
practices to running her own (including designing solar houses in the 1960s),
and in academia.
She had a “hugely
influential” role in introducing the second-ever, performance based Building
Act in the world to New Zealand. This simplified four building control
sub-systems, 19 responsible government departments, 67 Acts and 64 sets of
regulations into one document.
Throughout, she
strove to integrate all aspects of construction and building management and
railed against mediocrity.
At an exhibition in
Wellington in 1993 to celebrate Centennial Suffrage Year, she described herself
as “a professor of architecture and chartered builder for constructive agenda
[including] women in architecture.” Her research projects and publications
examined everything from building control systems, building access, building
quality assessment and building education, to affordable housing and urban
development.
She was a
foundation member of the New Zealand Institute of Building and the first woman President
of the New Zealand Institute of Architects. For 20 years she was a Professor of
Architecture at Victoria University – the first woman to achieve this and which
became a source of pride for the School. In 1994 she was awarded an OBE for her
services to architecture.
It’s no surprise
therefore that NAWIC’s premier award is named in her honour.
The Helen Tippett
Award is open to any organisation, company, partnership, firm or
individual operating in New Zealand,
although you are encouraged to become a NAWIC member or sponsor.
Entries for all
categories opened in May and will close on 12th July, and NAWIC
encourages women from all disciplines to enter themselves, or nominate another.
For entry /nomination forms, go to https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/09688161/files/uploaded/NAWIC_Nomination_form_2019Final.pdf
