EQUALITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT

Increasing diversity within our office

We recognise that ethnic minorities are currently underrepresented at Bell Phillips Architects and we are therefore taking positive action to address the diversity of our office.
We encourage job applications from underrepresented groups to build a business that reflects the society in which we live.
We hire the best person for the job and seek out diverse candidates by advertising in a diverse section of the labour market. Recruitment, promotion and other selection exercises are conducted on the basis of merit and against objective criteria that avoid discrimination.
Shortlisting is always done by more than one person to avoid bias.
Bell Phillips Architects is committed to promoting equal opportunities in employment. All staff receive equal treatment regardless of gender, age, disability, gender reassignment, gender identity, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
We take a zero-tolerance approach to bigotry and intolerant behaviour.
We operate a Grievance Procedure and Anti-harassment and Bullying Policy to ensure all staff have a recognised channel to raise issues.

We are keen to encourage people from differing backgrounds to enter architecture and are signed up to the London Practice Forum Ethical Charter which aims to advocate and lobby for positive change in the industry.
We also aim to encourage economically disadvantaged people into the industry with our commitment to the Mayor’s Diversity Pledge and the Mayor’s Access and Aspiration Employability Programme.
We provide support via work experience, mentoring and apprenticeships and currently take part in the Tower Hamlets school work experience programme to provide an opportunity to those who may not have considered architecture as a future career.
We are signed up to the Speakers Diversity Pledge to ensure that we only take part in events where speakers will be drawn from diverse backgrounds.

Regular training and CPD’s are provided to all staff including diversity and unconscious bias training.
We have an Equality and Inclusion Team who meet monthly and review policy, plan training and CPD’s, consider equality and inclusion in our designs and seek opportunities to provide work experience, mentoring and apprenticeships. The Equality and Inclusion Team continuously monitor progress and suggest positive action.

We are committed to reporting our gender pay gap on a 6 monthly basis.
Our current mean gender pay gap in hourly pay is 1.36% (men at Bell Phillips earn on average 1.36% higher wage). The median gender pay gap in hourly pay is 4.3 %. Our staff are 50% male, 50% female and 70% white, 30% Black, Asian, mixed race and other ethnicities (February 2022).

We are working to ensure that our designs are inclusive and consider as diverse a range of people as possible.