Brisbane BoSP Launch – a recap
The Business of Small Practice (BoSP) series was launched in Brisbane last month, led by Rebecca Caldwell from Maytree Studios and featuring guest speaker Kate Fitzgerald from Perth-based Whispering Smith. These casual events offer small practice owners a chance to meet, connect, share experiences and listen to a range of excellent speakers. Elise Robertson was an enthusiastic attendee and has written an excellent recap.
A balmy winter’s afternoon. Twilight. An excuse to leave my home office and the eager clutches of small children. The ideal scenario for the BoSP Launch event in Brisbane last month.
Not only was Brisbane’s climate laying out the red carpet, host Rebecca Caldwell chose the rear courtyard of her practice (Maytree Studios) and new home in Herston for the event – and it was perfection. Live music, festoon lights, drinks, warming bowls of soup, sour cream and bacon croutons set the scene for 50 practitioners to meet, connect, share experiences and listen to some wise words from Kate Fitzgerald.
Rebecca has been building and evolving Maytree over the past 12 years. On this journey she has always sought to engage with clients, peers and industry alike with an honesty and transparency that speaks volumes about her desire to improve both built outcomes and the actual practice of architecture. With some life and career goals ticked off, Rebecca is excited to be more deeply involved in the industry and leading the expansion of the ACA’s BoSP into Queensland seems like the perfect fit.
The evening was warmly introduced by Michael Kennedy – owner of Kennedy’s Recycled Timber – who shared his passion for timber. Kennedy’s is a well-known family business based here in Brisbane, and the supplier of incredible sustainable, recycled timber products. Michael’s friendly engagement with the crowd was delightful.
The evening’s charity partner was the Land Back Foundation, an organisation doing important work in education and recognition around shared responsibility for Country. Significantly, Land Back works towards practical financial and built housing outcomes that aim to address land and housing injustice in Australia. Check out Land Back to see how your practice can be involved.
The evening’s main speaker was Kate Fitzgerald, founder of Whispering Smith (a Perth-based practice) and the Vice President of the ACA WA. Kate described her approach to architecture as quite entrepreneurial, with a definite ‘developer’ vibe. Importantly though, the evolution of her practice into this sphere is both an economic venture, and a chance to “put her money where her mouth is” – showing clients, policy makers and governments the potential of medium-density infill type housing to address the current housing crisis.
Kate shared her extensive knowledge of Australian property markets and how these interact with the economy, population growths and housing supply to reveal potential development opportunities. When it comes to her own development projects, Kate uses this kind of data to pinpoint potential locations, and then leverages her business profit to purchase infill sites. She then proceeds to design and build high-quality infill housing. This on-the-ground experience means she can support her advocacy work with built evidence. She encouraged us, as architects, to stop putting the onus on others to “do something” and to lead the way through action – showing people how it can be done. AND not leaving it to low quality volume builders to create the housing we so desperately need.
The level of enthusiasm at the event was palpable, with everyone both inspired by the words they heard and excited about the future of this group. I left with a full tummy, warm heart and a great sense of gratitude to Rebecca and her team for bringing us BoSP QLD/NT!
The second BoSP event on 9 August featured Warwick Mihaly from Mihaly Slocombe talking about Fees, Profit and Tracking your Business Metrics.
Elise Robertson is an architect and Director of Weave Architecture.
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