The heart of BRANZ

This Issue This is a part of the BRANZ 50th anniversary feature

By - , Build 176

Our people are the enduring heart of BRANZ. The passion and commitment our people bring to BRANZ create a rare and treasured taonga for our organisation.

Chelydra Percy, BRANZ Chief Executive.

HUTIA TE RITO O TE HARAKEKE, kei hea te kōmako e kō? Kī mai ki ahau, ‘He aha te mea nui i te ao?’ Māku e kī atu, ‘He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata’.

If the heart of the flax is pulled out, where will the kōmako sing? If you ask me what is most important in this world, I will reply, ‘People, people, people’.

From the moment I walked into BRANZ, I was deeply impressed by the sense of shared purpose. You could immediately feel the focus people had on solving problems that would deliver better results for everyone.

This commitment continues to nourish us all. My decision to join BRANZ in 2013 has since been affirmed every day I have been here.

Bringing change over the decades

Looking back over BRANZ’s work through the decades, I see many pivotal moments when the BRANZ team just threw themselves at a challenge to improve outcomes for the industry and for New Zealanders.

As early as 1973, the team began investigations on key industry problems such as labour retention, accidents, fire codes, contract efficiency, condensation and dampness, and materials durability. Oh, and metric change – so good to know we knocked that problem off!

We worked with the meat industry to develop material performance criteria for floor and wall systems that would be hygienic and resistant to damage. This was an important part of supporting food exports to the European Common Market. The work supported the refurbishment of cool stores, freezing works and other food-processing sites.

Understanding the performance of materials, products and systems in New Zealand has, and continues to be, an enduring theme for our work.

Chelydra Percy, BRANZ Chief Executive.

BRANZ informed the big decisions

Our people have been at the table for the development and review of important standards including NZS 3604:2011 Timber-framed buildings, first published in 1978, which has significantly shaped New Zealand houses.

We worked tirelessly on contributing to the first ever national Building Code in the 1980s seeing it as a once in a lifetime opportunity for the industry and New Zealand.

Our researchers initiated the national House Condition Survey in 1995, which is undertaken every 5 years. This survey has amassed an extraordinary kete of invaluable data about the quality, and defects, of New Zealand housing. This includes providing the unassailable evidence on the consequences of poor ventilation on the health of occupants, especially children and the elderly, and ways to rectify the problem.

This national survey was a far-sighted commitment that continues to inform BRANZ research directions, New Zealand’s building practices and local and central government policies.

We were there when the Hunn Report on leaky buildings came out in the early 2000s, and our soul searching led to the national research programme on weathertightness issues in New Zealand.

As the pieces of this puzzle began to emerge, the determination of staff to ensure our research findings were always accessible deepened. I doubt that a single issue of Build has since been published that does not continue to share insights drawn from this research programme.

Helping communities and the industry

Our skilled teams at BRANZ share an unwavering commitment to make a real difference for New Zealanders through a building and construction industry they are passionate about. When natural disasters devastated communities and their buildings, we worked, often at the heart of the affected community, to provide ways to better prepare for, minimise and recover from the damage.

BRANZ staff were on the ground after the Canterbury earthquakes, helping with engineering assessments, as they were in Wellington in late 2016. Staff have travelled to flooded communities to share information and learn more about how houses could become more resilient.

BRANZ researchers have led the way in strengthening fire safety standards in New Zealand through research based on real building scenarios. That has meant not only investigating fire impact by visiting fire-ravaged sites but ensuring learnings that emerge are accessible to our communities and industry.

Every day, I talk to people who have been touched positively by the work the people of

BRANZ do. Their passion and commitment have inspired me in my own home renovation project. It has inspired me to invest in changes to the house that will ensure that my family and future owners have a warmer, drier, healthier and more efficient home.

Making a real difference

As one of my predecessors put it so well, ‘In the long term, BRANZ will and should be judged not only by the calibre and standing of its research, though these are vital ingredients, but by the extent to which industry has applied the research to the benefit of New Zealand.’

As BRANZ enters the next phase of our journey of renewal and reinvention, I want to thank our staff, past and present. Thank you for the gift of your time, applying your skills, sharing your knowledge. Thank you for your patience and passion. Thank you for being determined to make a difference for New Zealand.

Kia ora rawa atu.

‘He aha te mea nui i te ao?’ Māku e kī atu, ‘He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata’.

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Articles are correct at the time of publication but may have since become outdated.

Chelydra Percy, BRANZ Chief Executive.

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