We met with The Hon. Harriet Shing, Victorian Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria & Precincts and Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, during the week to advocate on topics of interest for our profession. Minister Shing has recently taken on the Building portfolio which includes responsibility for the Architects Act, Architects Regulations, the Victorian Building Authority (soon to be Victorian Building & Plumbing Commission) and the construction industry generally. Also, as Minister for Housing and Development, there was a lot to discuss.
Our interest in the Architects Regulations which sunsets on 28 April this year was a critical topic as was the Act and ARBV. The Victorian Government established the Building Reform Expert Panel back in 2021 to lead a review of the building legislative and regulatory system with the ultimate aim of rewriting the Building Act. The panel handed down its third and final report to Government last year, but this is yet to be released publicly. We have asked for a copy of this report at the earliest juncture. The government has expressed interest in the NSW Design Building Practitioner’s Act and the Chapter has been going through a review process with the support of our NSW colleagues. In addition to the existing ARBV architectural registration system, the DBP Act establishes a secondary registration and regulatory process to enact the procurement of class 2, 3 & 9C buildings which will significantly impact how architects practice in this field. This meeting offered an opportunity to advise on our initial findings which we will follow up shortly with a comprehensive paper.
The meeting was also an opportunity to explain to the Minister the current difficulty of obtaining building permits. The 2018 Shergold Weir Building Confidence Report followed by the 2019 Victorian Cladding Taskforce Report which investigated industry performance and building failures with the objective of improving outcomes for the consumer, followed by the 2020 Code of Conduct for Building Surveyors have had the unintended consequence of significantly slowing the building permit application process. Relevant Building Surveyors have generally become more conservative in their interpretation of the National Construction Code and are requiring a greater amount of supporting documentation including more Performance Based Solutions combined with a greater dependency on authority documentation such as Local Council Report and Consents. The Minister has requested further detail on this issue.
Finally, we discussed the progression of the government’s announcements of the Activity Centres and in particular the fundamentally important development of public facilities and infrastructure to support the proposed increased populations in these activity centres.
Members may be aware that a structural realignment has been taking place across all sectors of the Institute over the past few weeks. As part of these changes, we bid farewell to several valued team members. From the Victorian Chapter, Chapter Coordinator Justine McMahon and Member Support Officer Elisa Persico have concluded their roles. Additionally, from the National team, Architect Victoria Editor Emma Adams, Policy & Advocacy Manager Reece Agland, and Paul Zanatta, who are well known to Victorian members, have also concluded their roles at the Institute. We extend our sincere gratitude to Justine, Elisa, Emma, Reece, and Paul for their significant contributions over the years and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. The Institute’s Policy and Advocacy functions are currently undergoing restructuring, and a new Chapter Coordinator will be appointed in due course to support the Victorian Chapter’s activities. In the meantime, our State Manager/Executive Director, Daniel Moore, remains available to manage Chapter operations and serve as the primary contact for members.
Members should also note that Chapter staff are now located on the fourth floor, along with national staff and so for ABIC contract sales or staff-related enquiries, head to the fourth-floor reception. As always, members may book spaces at 41X to host meetings and events for their practice or Institute engagements. To make a booking contact Daniel Moore.
We finished last week with a morning brunch for International Women’s Day at Q Events, brilliantly moderated by our Victorian Government Architect, Jill Garner with a host of great panellists and a range of fascinating insights into both practice as a female architect and the experience of women in our community. This event is continuing to grow each year and this year saw attendance increase to 230 members and guests. Finally, Friday afternoon saw the finalisation and submission of our Policy Paper in response to the government’s Building Electrification Regulatory Impact Statement study which considers the progressive electrification of residential and commercial buildings across Victoria. This paper was a combined effort across Chapter Council (which met on Tuesday), Chapter staff, Sustainability Committee, and our National Sustainability Officer to create a position paper reflecting how the Institute sees the process of expanding electrification in parallel with the planned redundancy of gas servicing – the paper should make its way into the Policy and Advocacy pages of the Institute website shortly for your review.
Regards,
David Wagner FRAIA
President of Victorian Chapter
