Well I can’t believe it’s October and Christmas is just around the corner and we have a busy calendar for the rest of the year. The first bit of news is the Office is moving with our official first day in the new office the 16^th of October. Our lease is finishing, at the end of the month, and we needed to find secure safe accommodations for our small team. Although we will still be working our three days we will have full reception services for the full week. There are also some great meeting and CPD spaces available. The new address is: Regus – Charles Darwin Centre, Level 16, 19 Smith Street The Mall, Darwin, 0800 so if you are in town please pop in and say hi.

As part of our move we are looking at what is in the current office and we will be making sure the history of the chapter is preserved. We are working with NT Archives so that there is a permanent place celebrating the History of the NT Chapter. For all the library materials we are working with CDU’s Library which mean this will be on hand based at the Casuarina Campus. We are also going through to see if there are any photos and any we find will go into a book and be kept on hand. We are setting aside the 10^th of October to go through photos and other memorabilia from 4-6pm so please come along and reminisce as we make sure we keep the history. We will be taking the President honour board and the Tracy sign with us. The furniture we look like we have a buyer and the rest with be donated to charity or distributed to other offices across Australia.

The National Australian Institute of Architects Awards are being held on the 1st November 2018 in Melbourne and the NT has two short listed projects the first being for Public Architecture – the Garden Cemetery Chapel – Susan Dugdale and Associates and the second for Enduring Architecture – the Bowali Visitor Centre, Kakadu – Troppo Architects in association with Glenn Murcutt and Associates. Congratulations to our amazing NT Architects once again.

Super Studio was great with two teams competing this year. Robert Foote and Rossi Kourounis, two impressive Darwin based Architects, coordinated the event which was a successful model for the future. We were also thankful for the mentoring team of Architects who joined in to mentor throughout the two days. The projects the students presented were thought provoking and inspirational and showed real creativity in presenting their projects.

This month saw us respond to the Review, Reframe, Renew NTG Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics – Planning Reforms Phase 1. We recognise that the proposed reforms have been developed to improve the system and provide a basis for good design and governance into the future. We are gratified that many of our previous recommendations have been included in the proposed reforms, particularly the concept of a tiered, simplified planning system; meaningful community involvement; and transparency about the decision-making process. We also strongly support improving integration of planning and infrastructure and the AIA NT Chapter will continue to work with the Department to improve Planning in the Northern Territory, making it a robust, transparent system that will support appropriate, quality projects in the Territory.

Charmain Enthaler Architect Lecturer at CDU has handed over the baton to Robert Foote as the NT Education Representative and Robert had a baptism of fire attending the National Education Committee (NEC) meeting in Adelaide a couple of weeks after accepting the role. A central discussion from an NT perspective is around the CDU Architecture course and future development. The concept discussion from CDU is looking at changing the degree to being ‘industry based’, where students can take industry-based units drawing upon industry expertise. We need to tease out what this actually means as well as whether Architecture practices have capacity to deliver. Teaching and learning areas identified are very specific including computer-aided modelling (2&3D), design, construction and work integrated learning. The AIA NT Chapter view is that we should expand the program to a Centre of Excellence in Tropical and Desert Architecture and this needs to be considered when discussing the future of course deliverables and pedagogical models. We would also like to thank Charmain for the work and commitment she has done being our representative on the committee and we look forward to working with you on support growth of the CDU Architecture degree.

The AIA National Practice Committee meets once a month to discuss any issues that affect the practice of Architecture and has representatives from every State and Territory with Beck Adams as the NT representative. Over the past few months some of the issues which have been prominent have been:

• Membership structure of the Institute – as you are aware this is currently under review nationally.
• ABIC Contracts, and the issue of banks refusing to use them, in the context of Procurement in general. ABIC contracts are one of the only ones which allow for the architect to administer the contract
• Communications brochures – an updated brochure for clients on why and how to use an architect has been approved for issue nationally. This will be available through the AIA.
• Time/Cost calculator – surveys were sent out to practice directors several months ago. The survey period has now closed, and the invaluable information provided is currently being incorporated into a calculator to assist architects and those procuring architectural services in determining appropriate fees
• Safety in Design – this is an ongoing project to try to provide a template for architects to use in Safety in Design assessments.
• Mentoring – State based small, medium and large practice forums have been established in most states, meeting monthly. In the Northern Territory we are hoping to develop a general practice forum to discuss practice issues that are relevant to the NT.

As you are aware the digital transformation is well underway and Acumen is a key part of that. Jo Rees, the NT Chapter’s representative, attended the face to face meeting last month. Acumen was a little ‘unfriendly’ to the user so there has been a lot of work in having a user friendly functional interface that supports Architects to work effectively with the program and in their practices. If you haven’t already gone into the Practice Notes you can link from the Institutes web page. Other issues discussed were around insurance, Banks and AIBC contracts as well as collaborating with the National Practice Committee on ‘working with an Architect’.

The Code of Conduct for AIA members is currently under review. The NT Chapter has recommended that there be changes to the Code to reflect the National Gender Equity Committee decisions from 2015 including Architects roles and responsibilities to employees and additional language around diversity and workplace equality. We expect the recommendations for the changes to come through over the next few months for final review before this goes to the National Council early next year.

In September the NT Chapter was notified that two of the AIANT recommendations to be on the NT Architects Registration Board were accepted. The new AIA representatives are Sarah Williamson from Bennett Design and Adam Walker from DKJ. We would also like to thank David Bridgman for his contribution to the Board over the last few years.

This month is October Business Month and I encourage all members to have a look at what is available to support you and your business to grow. There are many great sessions which are free or inexpensive across the NT. These are opportunities for you to support your business growth as well as an opportunity to network with allied industries. I strongly encourage you to look at the calendar and book in. I go to as many events as possible and always feel that a get good ‘take home’ learnings to support both my personal and professional growth. https://obm.nt.gov.au/

 

As we are coming to the end of the year we have our final CPD and networking session with USG BORAL on Internal Wall and Ceiling Solutions for High Humidity which is being held on the 31^st of October at the RFDS Museum on the wharf.  There will be four guest speakers flying in for this event and I would be great to get as many people there as possible to discuss such an important topical issue which is pertinent to our lifestyle here in the tropics. We look forward to seeing you there

This year sees a change to how the Emerging Architect prize and tour happens. In the past the prize was granted in the previous year and the tour happening 12 -14 months after the award. This year we will technically have two winners as the 2017 winner toured earlier this year and the 2018 tour will be before the end of the year. Next year’s 2019 winner will be announced as usual at the Architecture Conference and the tour will happening the same year bringing this into line with other industry standards. The 2018 winner is Christina Na-heon Cho from Queensland and she will be a guest at the NT Chapter end of year Christmas function on the 30^th November.

This leads on perfectly to the AIA Northern Territory Chapter’s Christmas Party, as just mentioned, is on Friday the 30^th November from 4pm in our new workspace (Regus – Charles Darwin Centre, Level 16, 19 Smith Street The Mall, Darwin). We look forward to hearing the journey that Christina has been on as an emerging architect as well as having a chance to network.

Cheers

Raquel