From the National President

Richard Kirk

National President, Richard Kirk. Photo by Toby Scott
 
 
4 Dec 2017 
 
Friends and Colleagues,

This is my last column for the year during what we are all aware is a very busy period as we work towards that well-earned break – which partly explains why this one is 24 hours late!

The Institute has had an incredibly productive year as we continue to implement the transformative governance changes that were supported over 18 months ago. Although we have been working hard internally there hasn’t been too much that is obvious to you as members – until now.

2018 will the year where we will begin to demonstrate what the re-focused Institute will be able to contribute towards your careers and your practices and I want to list just a few of the key initiatives:

Strategic Plan 2018-2020
I am very pleased to have announced the Strategic Plan which you can read more about here. To be released next week, this document is a credit to the many members who contributed and the Institute staff.

Digital Transformation
Over the last 12 months the Institute has improved many of the hard and soft IT infrastructure. We are now in a position to begin the Digital Transformation which is the outward facing engagement we are developing for our members and our community. A renewed digital engagement platform will provide us all with an effective means to communicate and advocate. The target is to have the majority of this work complete by the end of the year and rolled out progressively. Importantly, the program, which is valued at over 1.4M will be funded from funds we have secured through the efficiencies implemented in our operations over the last 2 years.

Acumen (aka Practice Notes)
Acumen has been going through a re-writing phase and is the first module to be released via the digital transformation. Learn more about Acumen here and stay tuned for more information following the release of the upcoming Strategic Plan.

And

Last week the Australasian Student Architecture Congress ‘Agency2017’ was held in Sydney with over 300 attendees. The Institute was honoured to have been able to support the conference as a sponsor and through the support of our events team. Student Conferences are a very important opportunity for the profession’s future leaders to create an event that defines their particular areas of concern and interest. The Institute is very focused on engaging with the next generation of our profession and the student conference and associated events are a great credit to the organisers and attendees. Joshua Morrin (NSW ED) gave a great welcome speech to the students and it was so well received I encourage you to read it here.

As the last message for the year, I want to thank a few people for their great contribution:

– the Institute Staff for their patience and support through the many changes that have been underway. It is great that we now have a more agile and responsive Institute to support our membership and our agenda;
– our Board who do an incredible amount or work on our behalf of our members and I acknowledge them all again here – our 3 Independent Board Members Sarah Richardson, Genevieve Overell, and Giselle Collins, and our members Professor Ken Maher, Clare Cousins, Helen Lochhead, and Andrew Broffman;
– and the National Council and all the committees who make a great sacrifice of their own time on a voluntary basis.

Kind regards,
Richard Kirk
National President

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