Elections are over and we have a new Council whose term commences in March. It was the first time that we had gone to an election in a number of years, and I’d like to congratulate new council members Adam Hannon (Cox Architecture), Vanessa Amodeo (Troppo Architects) and Anthony Coupe (Mulloway Studio) in being elected as first time Councillors along with returning Councillors Dino Vrynios (Grieve Gillett Andersen) and Tony Gianonne (Tectvs).

The year has started with a flurry. The new Development Act is progressing through Parliament, albeit slowly, but we have already had a positive influence on the debate with the Liberal Party now supporting the Government’s position of not having elected members on Development Assessment Panels. This is a positive move, and will remove the politics from the application assessment end of the process that we have all experienced being played out on our clients’ projects.

We are frantically preparing for the trade mission to China in early April. There are a number of opportunities that we are looking to pursue in Shandong, with a focus on aged care and retirement living. Several practices are already involved in this discussion. But I’d also be interested in hearing from member practices that might be interested in undertaking industrial and factory work in Shandong.

There has been some interest in procuring design services in this area from Chinese businesses, and as with most things in China, the scale is an order of magnitude greater than what we do here – think the original 30ha of roof at the original Mitsubishi plant at Tonsley rather than a warehouse at Edinburgh Parks….

If you have an interest in pursuing this further, please get in touch with the SA Chapter office this week to register your interest. We’ll need to get promotional material together quickly.

Again we’ve had a great response of entries for the State Architecture Awards. Jury presentations will be held on Saturday 19 March at the Office of Design + Architecture SA (ODASA), and once again all entrants will be presenting publicly as well as to the jurors.

I can think of no better way of promoting the benefits of architecture than by presenting projects. However, bear in mind that you will have an audience of non-architects as well as the jurors and practitioners. There will be people who can’t read plans and don’t know what ‘articulation’, ‘fenestration’ and ‘materiality’ means…… Accessible, simple to understand presentations are the key. Try them out on your families beforehand – they’ll soon let you know!

And best of luck to all entrants.

David Homburg, SA Chapter President