Qld/NT Update - A Jam-packed Calendar of Events, Surveys and Sponsorship

4 December 2019

The ACA – Qld/NT committee had another busy year, with two surveys, an extensive calendar of events and increased membership and expansion of sponsorship.

Highlights

The ACA – QLD/NT branch championed an initiative to understand if there is a gap in employers’ expectations and students’/graduates’ expectations relating to the skills, knowledge and job readiness of students and graduates after they have completed their university degree/s. 

During the year, two surveys were conducted. The first was to understand the expectations of what skills and knowledge architectural students/graduates would have once they had completed their architectural course, 43 students/graduates responded. The second was to understand the practice’s or employer’s expectations of the skills and knowledge the students/graduates would have when they had graduated and 39 members responded to this survey.

The results of the surveys were analysed in October and shared with representatives from the following organisations at our latest Committee meeting in November: the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Bond University, Griffith University, AACA, the Australian Institute of Architects and the Board of Architects Queensland (BOAQ).

There was interesting discussion and it was an extremely important step in providing feedback from industry to the regulators and educators. Working groups will be formed in the near future to conduct further review and discussion to determine how best to provide graduates with the skills necessary to be ‘job ready’.

4 - Trivia Night

Sue Hill, Genevieve Hoeben, Andrew Cramb and Christopher Key at the Qld/NT annual Trivia Night.

Events

2019

Our regular events included presentations on ‘Risky Business’ and Industrial Relations updates. We collaborated with our National Sponsor, Planned Cover, and took an event to Darwin looking at PI Insurance claims and how to avoid them.

We started the Great Architectural Uprising, where we discussed how to regain the standing of the architect within the construction industry. We plan to conduct several follow up events linked to this topic.

Congratulations to Fulton Trotter Architects on winning this year’s Deep Knowledge Architectural Award and Trivia Night on 25 October! There was high energy throughout the room as Quiz Master, Robert Wesener, entertained and challenged the audience with two rounds of questions from “Who am I?” to “In which city would you find this famous building?” Our thanks to Peddle Thorp, 8i Architects (team pictured at top), dwp, Fulton Trotter, Mark Williams Architects, Stokes Wheeler, GWA, ASSA ABLOY and Planned Cover who competed strongly in this year’s challenge.

On 12 November, hard hats were on for the tour of the nearly completed Gallery House at Hamilton’s waterfront. Sandra Browne and Qui Li from Cottee Parker Architects took ACA members on a site visit, sharing how the first two, twenty-storey residential and retail buildings sits within the Portside East Masterplan and the challenges of connectivity to Portside West. After the tour, attendees enjoyed some festive cheer at Byblos.

3 - Gallery House site visit speakers

Sandra Browne and Qui Li from Cottee Parker Architects take members on a site tour of Gallery House.

2 - Gallery House guests

Michael Keam, Graeme Robb, Carl Brooks and Hannah Hansen at the Gallery House tour in early November.

2020

On Friday, 10 January, we will run a tour of Brisbane’s first vertical school led by Thomson Adsett. In Febrary/March (date to be confirmed), the ACA – Qld/NT committee will run a lunch forum with Bronwyn Weir, Founder and Managing Director of Weir Consulting Pty Ltd. Bronwyn is also the co-author of the report Building Confidence – Improving the effectiveness of compliance and enforcement systems for the building and construction industry across Australia.

Advocacy

Throughout the year we have been involved in discussions with the BOAQ and the Qld Government around amendments to the Architects Act and Regulations.

We have also tried to start a discussion with Government around procurement processes and we plan to make this topic a key focus next year as we continue to deal with the repercussions of the Lacrosse judgement and the Shergold Weir Report.

Corporate Partners

This year the QLD/NT branch has been working with our CEO, Angelina Pillai, to facilitate opportunities for a couple of our Branch Corporate Partners to take on a Partner relationship at a national level. To date, Armstrong Flooring has committed to being a National Principal Partner and we have a couple of others in the pipeline considering this as well as a potential new Branch Corporate Partner.

My huge thanks to our Corporate Partners for their continued support and contribution to our cause. We look forward to our Corporate Partners Lunch next week.

Members

The ACA – QLD/NT committee would like to welcome the following members who joined the ACA in 2019.

  • 77 Architecture
  • GHD Woodhead NT
  • GHD Woodhead Cairns
  • Bligh Graham
  • WIM Architects
  • Rust Architecture Design
  • Solution Positive Architecture
  • James Cubitt Architects
  • Skewed

Thanks

I would like to thank each of the QLD/NT Committee members for their ongoing support throughout the year.

  • David Brian – Events – dwp
  • Carl Brooks – Sponsorship/Events – ABM Architects
  • Gilda Donegan – GHD Woodhead
  • David Frost – Industrial Relations – Cottee Parker
  • Kevin Gerrard – Membership – Bickerton Masters Architecture
  • Steven Huntingford – NT Representative – Huntingford Architecture
  • Charmaine Kai – Treasurer/Education – 8i Architects
  • David Porgand – Vice-President – Peddle Thorp
  • Denis Waring – Secretary/Education – PW Architecture
  • Mark Williams – Immediate Past President – Mark Williams Architects

During the year, Don Marshall resigned from the Committee. I would like to thank Don for his contribution, in particular as Treasurer and his participation in the BIM Taskforce.

I would also like to thank Charmaine Kai for accepting the role of Treasurer and for the significant contribution she has made this year on matters relating to education.

Of course, none of this would happen without the guidance and support of our Executive Officer, Louise Street. Thank you, Louise, for the enormous effort you put into keeping us on track.

We currently have 93 members in Queensland and the Northern Territory. This coming year, 2020 will be an election year, so if you are interested in joining our Committee, please contact me at qldpres@aca.org.au or 0417 736 706.

Best wishes for a very happy Christmas and prosperity in 2020!

 

Robert Wesener
President, ACA – QLD/NT Branch

 

6 - Rob Wesener and Damien Stokes

Qld/NT President and Quiz Master Rob Wesener with Damien Stokes at the annual Trivia Night.