3 September 2018
Spring has finally arrived, and I am looking forward to swapping weekends spent at the edge of muddy soccer fields for sunny afternoons at the cricket. For many of you this may sound like swapping one form a torture for another, but I find engaging in my kid’s sport a welcome antidote to the working week.
Spring also heralds the commencement of the Institute’s planning process for the coming year. The SA Chapter business plan and budget will be drafted over the next month for review and sign off by the board. Chapter Council have been asked to provide input and we also welcome suggestions from members to inform this process. So, if you have any feedback regarding programs that have run over 2018 or suggestions for 2019 please let me know.
To that end, the national review of the 2018 Awards program is underway. We had a lot of positive feedback this year but are always interesting in improving. All thoughts and suggestions are welcome. We also encourage you to consider nominating to be a jury member, which is a stimulating experience that provides participants with access to wonderful projects and the opportunity to debate what constitutes excellence within the Awards context. We also encourage you to review which projects you will enter in the 2019 program. The entry process will commence in December, which is no longer that far away!
In other news, the development of the documents required to implement the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (PDI) Act are progressing at a fast pace. A steady flow of discussion papers, draft policy and technical papers has been released by DPTI Planning and the Planning Commission in recent months and this is expected to continue until the PDI Act goes live in 2020.
The SA Chapter believes that it is very import for architects to engage in this process. The PDI Act is the first in Australia to include design quality within an approval context. The development of the State Planning Policies, Design Code and Regulations provides the opportunity to incorporate the implementation of this principle in a meaningful and effective way. Architects will be at the forefront of applying this new regulatory system, so having it well resolved is in the profession’s best interest.
The SA Chapter Planning Reform Task Group has been working steadily to review each document and prepare a response. These are available for information on the Institute website. We are also seeking input into the draft response to the Draft Planning Policies. If you are interested in being involved in this process or future reviews please register your interest with Vanessa Thamm, who coordinates this work. You do not have to be a planning expert to contribute and, as with any group task, many hands make light work, so please do what you can.
Nicolette Di Lernia
SA Executive Director