Tagged for better things

It’s hardly news that sustainability is at the core of just about every industry nowadays and it’s certainly not a bad thing. But, how do you tell the genuine participants from those just giving lip service?

A good way is through recognised accreditation and few are more widely recognised than Global GreenTag^TM, an Australian-developed programme recognised in more than 70 countries.

“We have been following along with the general awareness of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) principles across the building industry for a number of years now but we really wanted to do something that announced to our industry partners and customers that we were sustainability leaders,” says Scott Morrison, Marketing and Innovation Manager for Dimond^® Roofing.

“We looked at a number of accreditation programmes but were really impressed with the level of assessment that Global GreenTag carried out and made the decision to engage with them purely because of how difficult it was going to be to get accreditation.

“Global GreenTag compares products and services against a global benchmark for the whole supply chain and this approach really forced us to look at ourselves, as well as our suppliers, from taking the ore from the ground through to delivery of products to our customers,” says Scott.

“We worked intimately with all of our suppliers downstream in what was a fairly exhaustive process that took 12 months before we felt ready to present our case to Global GreenTag. We were immensely pleased to be awarded GreenRate™ Level A certification on all ColorCote^® roll-formed roofing products on the back of all that effort.

“For specifiers, installers and consumers, providing and having access to environmentally certified product options is becoming essential. Accreditation gives our customers peace of mind that when they are installing—and specifying—Dimond Roofing products, they are using leading products that have passed all the requirements needed to achieve this premium accreditation.

“Additionally, throughout the process we were able to identify opportunities to reduce costs, be more efficient and reduce water and energy consumption, as well as introduce initiatives that are designed to allow us to get continually better in these areas.”

Scott says that the call from homeowners and the architectural sector for ‘whole-of-life’ products has increased in recent years, which has prompted Dimond Roofing to focus on a range of solutions in this sphere and was the major focus in the development of the Tricore^® advanced roofing system.

“We’ve undertaken a massive amount of work in the past two years around sustainability and product development and we feel that we’re now in a position to take on a more leadership role, particularly as we move into 2021 and conversations begin to form around upcoming changes to the Building Code. We are very enthusiastic about being a part of those discussions.”

Dimond Roofing is a member of the Sustainable Steel Council of New Zealand and is actively involved in its role as board member. The company is also a member of the New Zealand Green Building Council and is the first rollformer to achieve Toitū’s carbonreduce^® accreditation.

“We have been really heartened by the feedback we’ve received from the industry and from our partners throughout this journey and now, especially with Toitū accreditation, we’re looking at implementing further carbon reduction measures,” says Scott.

“This entire process has definitely influenced who we choose to work with and to what level that interaction will take place. We are committed to instituting environmental principles as a cornerstone of our business and we believe that our customers will reap the rewards of that stance.”

Learn more about Global GreenTag^TM accredited products and using them in your next project.