ACA Action in SA
John Held provides an overview of initiatives, advocacy and events underway in South Australia.
ROUNDTABLE – “But you said you wanted a sustainable building!”
Our next round table is with ESD Consultants discussing the issues confronting architects when dealing with sustainability issues, including clients who say they want sustainable buildings but don’t want to spend any extra time or money on the process.
- How do architects get the right advice and avoid greenwash?
- What does the government really mean when it talks about a zero carbon future?
- How do you make government buildings more sustainable?
When
4.30–6.00pm, 11 May, 2016 – mark the date down now!
The May Roundtable is generously sponsored by Planned Cover.
Submissions To DPTI
Did you see the recent circular and read our submissions to DPTI? Our work includes
- A short paper sent to Denise Hatzi, Manager, Strategic Procurement, on DPTI Prequalification, its benefits and suggestions for improvement. There is a review of Prequalification under way, and we also me with the MBA, AMCA and Master Plumbers recently to share our experiences of the system.
- An analysis of contract conditions within the tender documents for Lead PSCs , drafted by David Kilpatrick and submitted jointly with the AIA
- Meetings with DPTI to see if we can adopt the ACA Safety in Design proformas as their standard. John Schmidt has also drafted a guide to safe roof access for architects which we will also discuss with DPTI.
- Concern at changes in contract conditions, and a suggestion of major changes to procurement methodologies
- A short submission was drafted on ACA’s views on government procurement following a meeting with ACA reps, Paul Viney, Denise Hatzi, Brian Roche, Derek Cruickshank and Andrew Brown.
As you can see, there has been a great deal of activity. We have been liaising closely with David Homburg and Nicolette di Lernia from the Australian Institute of Architects to ensure a unity of voice for architects. More meetings are planned in the near future to explain the role of the architect in government procurement.
State of the Profession
Our research report was launched at the Architectural Practice Board of South Australia presentation of certificates on 7 April. The response from those present was very encouraging – but what we would like, particularly from SA members, is feedback on what results are interesting, useful, or need further investigation. Suggestions already include
- Quantifying who engages the architect – client direct, project manager, government, or other?
- Non-practising directors
- Fee income per person for different size practices
We look forward to your feeback to sapres@aca.org.au
Architects/Builders Liaison Group
The architects/builders liaison group has been regenerated with an initial agenda-setting meeting on Monday 4 April. Membership will include representation from MBA, ACA and AIA with a focus on sharing industry insights between designers and constructors. Current issues identified for the agenda include:
- government procurement policy
- government pre qualification systems
- electronic document management, tendering and archiving
- updated tendering guidelines
- industry issues such as product performance.
The initial meeting of the renewed group suggested significant commonality on these issues between designers and contractors with the potential to present a unified position to government and broader industry.