The last two weeks have been exceptionally busy which is an encouraging start to 2025. It will be interesting to watch the ripples of the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy and also the deliberations of the Housing Development Authority (HDA) who have started to provide recommendations.
During the first few weeks of the new university year, we are introducing SONA – the Student Organised Network for Architecture to new students.
Along with Justin Westlake from the NSW Chapter and SONA Representative, Orlando Iliopoulos, I had the pleasure of talking to the University of Technology, Sydney and University of Sydney students last week. We will meet up with the University of New South Wales and the University of Western Sydney next week. Jo Bastian, the new Regional Committee Chair, met with the University of Newcastle Students and we welcomed their new SONA representative, Clare DeLune Whitney to the Regional Committee on Wednesday. For those of you who are students or employ students, I would encourage them to join.
Saturday night saw on of Sydney’s iconic events – Mardi Gras, and Architects with Pride did us proud in the parade. Architects with Pride, one of the many organisations who are supported by the Institute, is part of our large built environment community.
I also met with Justine Clark from Parlour to discuss how we can share information across our organisations and better support each other. Justine updated us on the great work that Parlour is doing to improve gender equity in architecture and the built environment professions.
A fitting conversation for the upcoming International Women’s Day.
Lisa King, Adam Haddow, and I met with the new Building Commissioner – James Sherrard to discuss the ongoing developments of the Building Bill and also a continuation of refinements to the DBPA. We were accompanied by Craig Burns, Technical Director at BVN who has been on the journey since its inception and continues to provide valuable insight. Thank you, Craig.
Key points discussed were the streamlining submission requirements to improve the functionality of the Planning Portal, the potential removal of double registration, a focus on clarity around facades and remedial work. No news as yet on any decisions; however Working Groups are in progress and we anticipate that more information will become available mid-year.
Following the Building Commissioner, we met with Minister Scully, to present 5 key ideas on Housing. Included in this paper were ideas from many of our members, discussed over the past few months. Thank you to the Working Group – Angelos Korsanos, Ken Maher, Peter Smith, Philip Thalis and Matthew Allen who contributed plus the many other members who assisted. Encouragingly, we felt that the paper was well received so we will let you know of positive outcomes in the coming months.
Both of these documents will be published in the Policy and Advocacy Submission Library section of the website.
