Hello. Thank you. And Goodbye.

In my last post as Chapter President, I would like to thank the numerous people that have assisted me in the role including councillors, committee chairs, regular volunteers, and of course our dedicated Chapter staff. It has been a real privilege to work with you to ensure this profession remains strong, active, relevant, and forward thinking.

I am delighted to see Philip Leeson taking over the position of Chapter President and I know that he will bring great wisdom and a measured viewpoint to the role. Philip will be officially starting his two-year term in March. Good luck PL!

I’d like to finish up my time with a snapshot of some achievements in 2017. As a small chapter, we should feel incredibly proud on what our volunteers manage to do for the profession.

1. Penelope Seidler noticed the prominence of women in the 2017 ACT Chapter Awards. The ACT Chapter continues to support equity and diversity and maintains high levels of female participation on Chapter Council and committees. The Diverse Equitable Employment Practices (DEEP) committee, is developing a terrific booklet to assist practices in achieving workplace equity and will be bringing together the ACT’s 20 largest practices in March to share positive success stories.

2. Housing Choices is finally on the ACT Government agenda, and again the ACT Chapter is leading the discussion. Following on from two years of discussions with Planning Minister Gentleman, we launched a website, Housing Choices: Canberra, to illustrate exemplar projects for developing the missing middle. NEAT Housing continues to be promoted and discussions have started for NEAT 2.0 as a response to the ACT Governments recent callout.

3. The ACT Chapter has grown their involvement in the Design Canberra Festival. For a small Chapter to manage some 15+ events in under three weeks illustrates that we are doing exceptionally well. Around 95,000 people attended events this year, so we are reaching people like never before, and getting the message across about the value of good design. Seeing 450+ people squeeze into a single house at once was rather comical, but also heart-warming.

4. The ACT Chapter joined forces with allied industry organisations to tackle procurement procedures for ACT Government projects. We hosted regular collaborative forums with Procurement and Capital Works, whom have started to implement changes. We will continue to push for improvements to ensure our members are being engaged ethically and remuneration reflects the services we provide.

Finally, thank you members for allowing a young lad to have a go. I hope I didn’t disappoint.
Over and out.

Rob Henry