Welcome back to 2018. I hope that you have been able to enjoy some well earned down time over the festive season and that you have returned refreshed for another year.  It is going to be an interesting one with the State election, ongoing development of the new planning system, the Building Better Schools program stimulating activity as well as testing government procurement protocols and the Adelaide Contemporary competition providing a window to international design thinking. 

The SA Chapter issued a Policy Position Request late last year and received a comprehensive response from Green’s Mark Parnell.  We will keep you up to date with the responses and any relevant policy announcements as they occur.  We also encourage members to contact their local candidates to make them aware of the Institute’s position and the importance of robust, well considered policies relating to built environment issues.  You may even be able to debunk some urban myths about architects at the same time!

The beginning of the year also sees a range of activities relating to the SA Awards program.  This year there have been some adjustments to the submission dates, with:

• Electronic entries due on Friday 9 February
• Jury presentations and display boards due by Monday 5 March
• Jury presentations to be held on Saturday 24 March

This program enables entrants to stage their submissions and allows the SA Chapter to establish the juries once the entry profile is known.  We anticipate that this will assist everyone involved.  Please provide any feedback you may have regarding the program.

We also remind you that the jury presentations are a public event.  Anyone can attend and we will be holding a range of activities in Leigh St to raise the profile of this event.  This provides an opportunity for you to showcase your project(s) to a broad audience.  To make sure that you make the most of this opportunity – and develop some valuable presentation skills that you can use in other contexts – the SA Chapter will be holding seminars focused on improving your presentations. 

We look forward to working with you in 2018.

Nicolette Di Lernia
SA Chapter Executive Director