SA Branch Update

8 July 2019

The ACA – SA Committee announces three new upcoming events, welcomes a new sponsor, and outlines its most recent advocacy work with the DPTI.

Events

The ACA – SA Committee will be hosting several important events over the next few months. On Tuesday 23 July, our next roundtable discussion will turn to business, with SA Government Small Business Commissioner John Chapman joining other invited guests to explore the issues. What’s required to run a successful small business, and what are the pressures? Is it a relentless spiral of reduced fees, increased risk, onerous contracts, and the worries of running an office? Does government understand these issues?

Next up is a very special lunch and presentation ‘Designers talk Business’ with Kerstin Thompson on Tuesday 27 August. Save the date and keep your eyes on your inboxes for an invitation with full details.

We are delighted to announce that Western Australia’s very successful Business of Small Business (BoSP) series is heading to Adelaide. ACA – WA Committee member and Founder and Principal of Whispering Smith Kate Fitzgerald will feature at the inaugural SA BoSP. Again, we’ll have full details to you as soon as they become available.

1 - Novation roundtable

Our May roundtable on Novation was well attended – a summary of the event can be found here.

New Sponsor

The ACA – SA is pleased to announce that Anna Roussos Recruitment + Advisory has joined us as State Sponsor for 2019/2020. Anna Roussos Recruitment + Advisory is a South Australian boutique recruitment partner, delivering the highest level of service to the architecture, construction, engineering and property industries.

Providing permanent and temporary recruiting solutions to these industries, Anna Roussos Recruitment + Advisory works closely with some of South Australia’s most respected architectural studios, providing them with one of their key resources – their people.

This partnership will enable ACA – SA to continue to deliver a diverse program of events for our members. Promoting the ‘best practice’ of architecture, this will include roundtables, breakfast forums, site tours and headline events.

DPTI

The SA Committee has been in discussions with DPTI regarding comments from members about the assessment methodology for DPTI education tenders, and in particular the relative fee and non-fee ratings. We also met with the Government Architect, Kirsteen Mackay, about this and other procurement matters.

We have helped to establish a subgroup of the Construction Industry Forum of all consultants to address common issues with DPTI. We note that some further communication is now happening, with a forward list of projects published monthly on the DPTI website.

SA Productivity Commission

After concerted lobbying, the terms of the SA Productivity Commission’s inquiry have been extended to include capital works. The Institute and the ACA have undertaken a joint submission to the Commission and a draft report will be available in the coming months.

Keith Neighbour Study Group

We have another group of prospective registrants participating in the Keith Neighbour Graduate Study Program. The group is now meeting weekly to support each other in their exam preparation – another initiative of ACA – SA supported by Chris Tan Consulting.

Queens Birthday Honours

Congratulations to Andrew Davies, long-time ACA Committee member, on being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to architecture and to the community.