VIC/TAS – Advocacy, Business Toolbox & AMWF
The VIC/TAS Committee has prioritised government advocacy, presentations of the ACA Business Toolbox and further development of tools for members in the first half of 2021.
Recent elections have confirmed the positions of two new committee members – Kirby Roper from Kirby Architects and George Theodoridis from Law Architects. We’d particularly like to congratulate Kirby who has been assisting the committee for over two years since just missing the previous elections.
We welcome expressions of interest from members interested in assisting on the committee at any time. We would especially like to hear from members practising in Tasmania and regional Victoria, and members representing large practice. Please contact victas@aca.org.au to register your interest, and a current committee member will be in touch.
Building Reform Advocacy
An urgent focus for the VIC/TAS branch in recent months has been addressing the Victorian government’s ‘Framework for Reform – Modernising Victoria’s building system’, including its review of architectural registration. Key priorities include the preservation of the Architects Act 1991 and appropriate consumer protections; strengthening of the ARBV and CPD for Architects; incentivising more architectural registrations; the establishment of minimum documentation standards; maintaining the independence of architects and building certifiers; and regulating unregulated disciplines.
After extensive consultation with members, government officials, the Institute of Architects, ArchiTeam and the Schools of Architecture, the ACA submitted its response in late May. You can download the full ACA Response to the Framework for Reform: Modernising Victoria’s Building System discussion paper here: ACA_VIC_Response_to_Framework_for_Reform_Building_Review_May21
ACA Resource Sharing System
The VIC/TAS Committee has long taken the lead on developing the ACA’s Business Toolbox, with a number of valuable tools developed and maintained that assist with practice and project management. The latest tool is the ACA Resource Sharing System (RSS), which was conceived to assist members in retaining valuable staff by entering into short-term secondment agreements. Now that the JobKeeper program has been concluded, there is a renewed need for measures to retain and sustain employees in the workforce now and into the future. The RSS can help with these challenges.
This peer to peer collegiate networking system enables the identification of available and required short-term secondments, matching employees and projects on the basis of skill, experience, location and timeframe. It has a mapping application built in for geographical search functionality.
It connects practices together at a Director to Director level where opportunities can be explored and agreed upon, and short-term secondment agreements set in place. We encourage all members to utilise the RSS to assist them with their short-term secondment needs. The ACA Resource Sharing System is accessible to ACA members at no cost. Head to the RSS page for further information and to log in to the system.
Events
In early June, Branch President Paul Viney gave a presentation to the NSW/ACT branch as part of its suite of seminars that unpacks the new NSW Design and Building Practitioners (D&BP) Act and its implications for architects. Another COVID lockdown in Melbourne didn’t deter Paul from switching from a face to face demonstration of the ACA Time/Cost Calculator to a Zoomed in presentation to the Sydney group. Paul illustrated the usefulness of this tool in supporting the comprehensive documentation requirements of the NSW D&BP Act.
A few weeks earlier, in April, Paul Viney presented alongside Parlour to the Geelong + Surf Coast Regional Practice Forum, highlighting the many benefits of the ACA Salary Calculator and Time Cost Calculator Guide to a Zoom and in-room audience.
At the March VIC/TAS Committee meeting, Ted Baillieu – former architect and Premier of Victoria and founding member of the ACA – kindly accepted our invitation to present his view on the state of the architectural profession and how we can work to have our voice heard more effectively. He encouraged the ACA to be part of decision making and policy development impacting on the built environment, which would lead to quality outcomes for our communities and the profession.
Tasmania
It is a priority to reinvigorate our engagement with Tasmanian members. To support this effort, Kirby Roper (Committee member) and Angelina Pillai (ACA CEO) have reached out for for the opportunity to meet with members while in Tasmania. We have followed up with an online meeting and we look forward to extending this opportunity to our wider membership group in Tasmania. In the absence of a committee member from Tasmania, our ACA Vic/Tas Vice President, Daniel Haskell, has taken on the role to represent Tasmanian interests at meetings. If you would like to raise any matters important to your practice or to architecture in Tasmania, or have suggestions for additional ways that the ACA can meet your needs as a member, please let us know by contacting victas@aca.org.au.
AMWF
The Architects Mental Wellbeing Forum in Victoria have continued to meet regularly online. Unfortunately, our first scheduled face-to-face meeting coincided with the introduction of the last lockdown but we look forward to trying again in July! The Vic/Tas AMWF group is open to all architects in Victoria and Tasmania, and includes invitations to significant events held by other state groups and AMWF Australia. We thank our regular members for their involvement and commitment to mental health and wellbeing in architecture practices and we welcome new members from both inside and outside of the ACA community. If you would like to attend our next meeting or become involved with the AMWF at the local Vic/Tas level, please contact Katherine Ygosse through victas@aca.org.au.