22 Jun

PEOPLE, the 2015 Australasian Student Congress, opens in Melbourne next Thursday. Open to all, this three day event is packed with workshops, seminars, fringe events and parties.

Takaharu Tezuka (Tokyo) is the latest to join the impressive speaker line up, which also includes Anna Rubbo (USA), Steve Larkin (Ireland), Sandra Manninger (USA), Veronika Valk (Estonia), Jeremey McLeod (Melbourne) and Sean Godsell (Melbourne).

There is also a unique workshop program featuring some of Melbourne’s leading architects: Donald Bates, Clare Cousins, Carey Lyon, Peter McIntyre and Kerstin Thompson, just to name a few.

Fringe events range from the Opening Party at Mission to Seafarers (included in your ticket) to an intimate evening with the Bedroom Philosopher at Robin Boyd’s Walsh Street House. Full Congress program and more here.

Our Awards program is now in full swing, with presentations already held in the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. This week sees awards events in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, then New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia next week.

If you have the opportunity, I encourage you to attend your chapter awards presentation. We value your support for our awards program, which celebrates the vision, talent and tenacity of our members and presents a valuable opportunity for public and peer recognition.

On the policy front we are currently working collaboratively with other industry groups and governments on building product quality issues following concerns that have been raised with recent product failures and a major fire at an apartment building in Melbourne. Nationally we are members of the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF), which is looking at the issues from holistic point of view covering the National Construction Code (NCC) standards, testing, certification, specifications and compliance. We are also involved in round table discussions at state level in Victoria and Queensland. This is an important issue and we will continue to be active with sensible recommendations to government on how to improve the system of project delivery to give more certainty that products specified are tested and compliant and in fact installed in projects. We will keep you updated on this important matter.

I also draw your attention to the Guide to Procurement of Construction Products which has been published by the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council with input from a large group of industry associations including the Institute.

 

Kind regards,
David Parken.