NZIOB Member, Robyn Phipps has been appointed Head of School (HOS) at Victoria University Wellington’s School of Architecture. The new role takes Robyn full circle back to the school that she graduated from with her BBSc and BArch (Hons), when studying under construction industry legend (and NZIOB Foundation Council member), Helen Tippett. She feels privileged to have had Helen as her supervisor for her thesis and still to this day repeats the wise words spoken by Helen. 

Robyn has had a close connection with the NZIOB in recent years, having received a Highly Commended Award in the Innovation category of the 2016 NZIOB Awards (now New Zealand Building Industry Awards), and winning an NZIOB Charitable Trust scholarship the following year. She was also a member of the team that won the Innovation category at the 2018 New Zealand Building Industry Awards. 

Throughout her career, Robyn has been committed to improving the quality and sustainability of buildings. She has been very active in researching low-cost solutions for healthier homes and schools, including undertaking projects that focus on topics such as healthy heating, solar air heaters, and construction health and safety. Her research is multidisciplinary involving materials suppliers, designers, environmental engineers, building physicists, and most importantly building users. A current focus is improving ventilation and air quality to help reduce the transmission of COVID. 

“Multidisciplinary work is really stimulating” says Robyn, “and allows for cross pollination of ideas and combining of expertise. Likewise, the NZIOB’s multi-disciplinary focus makes it a fantastic professional institute and the ability to chat with people from all ranks and corners of the built environment at NZIOB events always makes for a stimulating conversation.” 

The NZIOB congratulates Robyn on her appointment to this significant industry role.