National committees

National Educational Committee

Despite being a financially challenging year, 2009 gave us an opportunity to take stock of our activities and to ensure that we are aligned with the Institute’s goals and objectives.

One of the major changes in our program of activities was the transformation of the COLORBOND® steel Student Biennale Traveling Exhibition by the introduction of a fresh, new approach. Last year it was agreed that the format of mounting an exhibition at each university for a limited period would change. The new online gallery has improved this popular program on a number of fronts: it makes the exhibition more accessible to a wider audience; provides a more streamlined approach to delivery; and reduces staff time and overall costs.

Our key international activity was the attendance by CEO David Parken and National Education Manager Martha Liew at the second Canberra Accord General Meeting in Seoul, Korea in April 2009. At this meeting Canberra Accord signatory members reported back their progress on the preparation for the Accord, which came into effect in January 2010. However, as the Institute is not a registration authority, we cannot offer signatory members the recognition of their architectural education qualifications for architects’ registration. The Institute is currently seeking support from state/territory registration authorities, and we will continue to engage with our colleagues on this matter.

In the past 12 months the Education Unit continued to manage the National Visiting Panels, COLORBOND® steel Student Biennale, Neville Quarry Education Prize and Student Prize for the Advancement of Architecture. We have also worked closely with other committees, such as the Heritage Taskforce and Archvision Working Group, on a number of new initiatives, as well as providing advice to the Climate Change Adaptation Skills for Professional Project. Review of the Education Policy was completed in August 2009 and the Review of the Australian Architecture Program Accreditation and Recognition Procedure commenced in March 2010.

Successes during this testing year would not have been possible without the hard work of our NEC members and those who gave so much of their time and energy to be panel members during National Visits, State Visits and juries for prizes and competitions.

We also wish to thank the following sponsors for their continual support:

• COLORBOND® steel – COLORBOND® steel Student Biennale.
• BlueScope Steel –BlueScope Steel Glenn Murcutt Student Prize
• Autodesk - Neville Quarry Prize

Richard Blythe
Des Smith
Eugenie Keefer Bell
Stephen Loo
Leigh Shutter
John Schenk
Ian Dewar
Paul Berkermeier
Charmain Enthaller

National Practice Committee

Significant changes to the committee’s method of operation include the introduction of Acumen and the instigation of the Microsoft Live workspace for the review of much of the content of what were Advisory Notes.

The excellent work of Knowledge Services staff, in re-formatting the entire contents of the old advisory notes into Acumen has resulted in an easy to use system that is gaining wide acceptance by members. 

Practice Committees in each of the state and territory chapters continue to be strong, although the smaller numbers Tasmania and the Northern Territory place a higher workload on their members.  It has been noted by the NPC that the Practice Committees are one of the most crucial means of communications within the Institute for the Institute’s members, and that this must be encouraged through the maintenance of relevancy, strong communications with the National Committee and professional approaches to the problems of practice and the solutions to those problems.

The NPC has been, and will continue to, work on BIM, which is promising to be the most significant change to the production of architectural works since the introduction of CAD.  We are approaching this from a number of directions, including aiding the development of a common BIM language, gaining an understanding of the changing cost structure and fees structures emerging through a transfer to full modelling of buildings, and the liability and copyright issues resulting from the dissemination of detailed modelling amongst consultants and contractors.

Late 2009 saw the adoption of the Quality Based Selection document, produced by the NPC, by the UIA.  This acceptance by the UIA of our work was very encouraging.

During 2010 we will be looking closely at pro-bono work offered by architects, and how we might instigate a system for the chapters to manage that work.  We will also investigate the legal implications of pro-bono work and advise our members accordingly.

The production of a Quality Management System and guide, predominantly for smaller offices, will be a priority in 2010 as there is significant demand for a system which is economic to implement and easy to use.  Research into some systems already available are in progress, although at this time it appears that it may be necessary to start afresh with a completely new series of documents.

The NPC will also continue to work closely with the National Education Committee.  The quality of graduates from schools of architecture is of particular interest to the Chapters’ Practice Committees members, and members as a whole.  We will also be investigating how the Institute may encourage the universities to undertake practice-relevant research programs.

Finally, the introduction of the national PALS program has been most usually managed in the Chapters by the Practice Committees.  We are working with the committees to ensure that the presentation of the ancillary tutorials is sufficiently consistent throughout and are acting as a conduit for concerns and success stories relating the new program.

The success of the NPC over the next 12 months will be very dependent upon the willingness of its members, and the members of the various chapters’ committees, to work under the new systems of online collaboration and the new format of Acumen.  The continuation of a productive and co-ordinated national committee is seen as a necessity, however we must ensure that our work matches the incredible history of this committee for both its quality and its quantity.

Paul Griffin
David Springett
Paul Viney
Denis Wylks
Ross Macdonald
Kees Wegman
Bretton Watson
Steven Huntingford
Ross Connolly
Struan Gilfillan
David Holland

National Sustainability Committee

Through 2009 the National Sustainability Committee (NSC) has continued to reinforce its position as the point of reference for the Institute on matters of sustainability.  It continues to develop policy for consideration by National Council; it continues to provide, on behalf of the Institute, submissions in response to federal and state/territory initiated legislation and policy; and it has provided practical information, content and methodologies to enable sustainability to be drawn more deeply into the core of the Institute’s activities, in particular through the Sustainable Architecture Web Portal released in tandem with the revised Institute website during September.

It is appropriate to draw attention to several significant federal government initiatives to which the NSC has provided responses on behalf of the Institute.  One was the DEWHA proposal for the mandatory disclosure of the energy efficiency of commercial office buildings.  This is a policy foreshadowed by developments in the UK where a similar system is already in place, and the NSC was able to draw on experiences there to provide a detailed response.  Equally significant, in the year of the ‘GFC’, has been the ‘Building the Education Revolution’ programme – part of the federal government’s stimulus package, designed to help counter the worst effects of the ‘GFC’ – for which the NSC provided a comprehensive fact sheet which was located on the federal DEEWR website, and which was designed to enable architects (and others) involved in this programme to have ready access to a checklist of sustainability features for incorporation into school projects.

Other responses included those to the ABCB on the proposed BCA 2010 energy efficiency provisions, to DEWHA on the ‘Your Home’ evaluation report released by the department, and to NCCARF on their ‘National Climate Change Adaption Research Plan’.

Closer to home the NSC has been very active in informing debate within the Institute on its developing policy direction.  Following the establishment and adoption of the Institute’s ‘Sustainability Policy’ in 2008, the NSC has been effective in a wide range of related policy areas.  Of initiatives to come out of this activity, one of the most significant is the establishment of a ‘Sustainable Communities’ sub-committee, chaired by the President, whose remit has been to draw up a “policy-to-action” plan that identifies areas for priority activity over short and medium term time frames, and that will also reveal any gaps in activity to enable these to be addressed.  Another key programme has been the launch of the ‘Leadership in Sustainability’ Prize, with the inaugural winner to be announced early in 2010.

At a more practical level, the establishment of a sustainable architecture web portal on the Institute’s www.architecture.com.au website represents a big leap forward for the Institute, allowing easy access for the first time to all of the sustainability content on the website, following development of the web architecture and content for the portal by the NSC over a period of some 18 months.  We are delighted to see it locate sustainability at the heart of the Institute’s online interface and for the information to be readily available to members and the public alike in an accessible format.

Looking forward, the NSC will continue to respond to government policy initiatives on behalf of the Institute and to inform debate on internal policy, but will look also, in the longer term, to being more proactive in representing Institute policy to government in a pre-emptive manner.  The appointment of an assistant to the Sustainability Manager is a strong indication of the Institute’s support for this change of emphasis, and will go some way to helping to get this process underway.  The Institute has worked hard to be in a position to talk to government over many years, but initiatives such as BEMP, and the influence that the Institute is able to have through key memberships within organisations such as the GBCA and ASBEC, have opened up greater opportunities for such dialogue to occur.  Our aim will be to provide the sustainability stream within this conversation.

Peter Scott (chair) Tas
Chris Barnet (Vic)
Anne Warren (NSW)
Ric Butt (ACT)
Marci Webster-Mannison (Qld)
Brendan Meney (NT)
Emilis Prelgauskas (SA)
Elizabeth Karol (WA)
Tone Wheeler (chair, expert)
Alysia Bennett (SONA)
Melinda Dodson (National Council)