With the 2021 Tasmanian Architecture Awards program in full swing, the jury have made their way around the state visiting the shortlisted projects over three jam-packed days. To all those who entered, thank you sincerely for sharing your work with us all at the presentation to the jury; this opportunity to learn about your process and work is truly insightful and a generous process on your part. The recording of the presentations will be uploaded on our YouTube channel soon – we’ll keep you posted. Congratulations to all those projects that were shortlisted; please see the shortlisted projects here.
The Tasmanian Government have recently announced an election and we are working with Chapter Council to finalise our stance, and we will share this with you all following tomorrow’s Chapter Council meeting. In the meantime, our Tasmanian 2021-22 State Budget Priorities submission can be seen here.
At a time when our voice needs to be heard, it is heartening that the State Government responded directly to our advocacy work as part of the pandemic, and in particular our stalled project register, with the recent announcement of the Building Construction Support Loan Scheme, which will provide loan finance, supporting private sector development of stalled or delayed projects in these uncertain times. Projects of $3 million or more will be able to apply for low-interest commercial loans through the Office of the Coordinator-General under this job-creating scheme. This was as a direct result of the Institute’s advocacy, and we thank members who responded to our call-out last year by submitting projects to help build the case for this. The media release can be viewed here.
Jennifer Nichols
Executive Director, Tasmanian Chapter
Australian Institute of Architects