Outcomes of the BICCIAB 2011 Industry Forum
Thank you to the industry and training leaders who attended the Annual BICCIAB Industry Forum 'Regulation and the Built Environment' on the 26th of October 2011.
Speakers included:
Mr Dennis Hogan, Director Regulatory Development, Building Commission
Ms Gisele Masclef, Senior Strategic Planner, City of Melbourne
Mr Mark Supple, General Manager Operations, Henley Homes
Ms Jeanette Gage, Registered Building Practitioner, EnGage Building Inspections
The forum was held at the impressive Melbourne City Bowls Club, itself a working example of a six star building. Mr John McNally, BICCIAB's Executive Officer, opened the forum by providing an outline of how regulation impacts the work that we do. Regulation as an individual and regulation as a society with relevant building laws.John provided an overview of the Bowls Club building that was completed in 2006 and is a six star building. Information on the interesting features of the building are available here.
The first speaker for the day was Mr Dennis Hogan, Director of Regulatory Development at the Building Commission and Plumbing Industry Commission. Dennis commenced his distinguished career as an apprentice carpenter who has worked his way through a range of building occupations including supervisor, draftsman, estimator and building surveyor. Dennis has worked at the Building Commission for the past 10 years. Dennis’ presentation is available here, however key points made in the presentation included:- Practitioner registration has been in place since 1994 with over 24,000 people registered.
- The challenge for our industry is to attract young people by making them aware of the wealthof opportunities available to them as part of a rewarding career.
Short term….
- The purpose of the National Occupation Licensing System, established by COAG, is to remove the overlap between jurisdictions to allow licensees the work unhindered across all states and territories.
- The new system will commence for plumbing on 1 November 2012, electrical on 1 September 2012 and discussions for building occupations to be phased in during 2013.
- The new regulations will require the Building Commission to review the administrative processes relating to the registration of practitioners, however until further detail on the regulations is known, no changes will be made.
- The Building Commission have had concerns regarding the implementation delays and associated impact on the cost and administrative structures.
- It is unknown at this stage which building occupations will be regulated, however it is still early days.
Drivers of regulatory change…
- Drivers for regulatory change are predominately driven by government policy ie six star, however change can also be driven by industry and partnerships with government ie accessibility.
- Drop in to the new Building Commission offices at the Good Shed North to see an excellent example of a heritage building incorporating sustainable principles.
- Regulations don’t change overnight. All changes to regulations must be closely examined to establish the burden on industry and the community. What are the costs and who benefits from the change?
The long term…
- In the long term the Building Commission is aiming to improve processes for the Building Surveying audit program. Building Surveyors are in the front line for regulation.
- The big challenge for industry is the quality of work and how well we put together our buildings (managing complaints). It is vital to ensure the quality of our building and the professionalism of the workforce. We wish to retain the integrity of the building permit system.
- We may hear more about initiatives in relation to quality and professionalism shortly.
- Continue to influence the National Construction Code (BCA) through the ABCB, ie internal noise is regulated but not external. The ABCB are undertaking a project to examine external noise ie pubs and rubbish bin collection in high density living areas.
The second speaker was Ms Gisele Masclef, who is the Senior Strategic Planner at the City of Melbourne. Gisele has an extensive background in urban planning and development working in a range of private and local government organisations. Gisele presented on the proposed new planning control laws (presentation available here) and the 1200 Buildings Program (presentation available here).The key points in Gisele’s presentation included:
New planning policy…
- 2020 Eco City Targets.
- Review of the energy, waste and water efficiency planning controls. That found a high degree of control but does not cover supply and demand.
- City of Melbourne has analysed the differences in building rating tools ie NATHERS, Green Star.
- Energy, waste and water policy previously covered office space and will now add retail, residential and educational building uses.
- Preliminary consultation has occurred and now submitting the new planning controls to the Minister for wider public and industry consultation.
- Regulation needs to be monitored and updated.
- New policy will only apply to new developments.
1200 Buildings Program…
- Council policy is to have zero net emissions by 2020.
- Commercial buildings are responsible for 53% of emissions.
- Challenges for owners who wish to retrofit are; access to finance, owners pay – tenants benefit.
- Council don’t have a direct impact so creating partnerships ie sustainable funds
- Further information is on the website http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/1200buildings
Mr Mark Supple from Henley Homes was the industry speaker representing the residential sector. Mark is the General Manager of Operations, who started his impressive career with a building degree from Deakin University. Mark has worked as an estimator, site supervisor and state operations manager over a period of 11 years at Henley.Mark has seven teams with 100 staff and has the substantial responsibility of managing new product in Victoria and all administrative elements from a home deposit through to completion. Mark strives for excellence through delivering homes on time and to expectation. Henley is now working on international business ventures in Japan, China and the USA.
Mark’s presentation is available here, with the following key points made.
- Henley has been operating in Australia for 25 years with over 10,000 homes built nationally.
- Two major recent changes to regulations that impact on the business are sustainability (5 and 6 star) and the bushfire regulations.
Sustainability….
- Because of the initial negativity surrounding cost and impact on the consumer, Henley undertook to test changes to move to 5 stars and found the benefit to the community to be great and the cost negligible.
- Henley worked with legislators to develop and drive change and is looking to take the same lead with 6 stars. The transition involving training staff and rethinking the traditional brick home.
- Ideal scenario is a home with zero net emissions with zero bills.
- Currently working with the CSIRO to test a zero emissions home with a ‘real’ family and want to pass the knowledge onto industry and give back to the community by opening the home to schools.
- Houses ‘leak air like sieves’! Previous homes had 15 to 20 air changes per hour and with the first zero emissions home this has been reduced to 5, whilst maintaining mechanical ventilation for air quality – seeing an opportunity to test and improve.
- Industry is driving sustainability as energy prices increase because owners now are aware they can obtain a direct benefit or return.
Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) assessments
- The introduction of BAL assessments is the most recent legislative change to be implemented.
- Henley supports the legislation however collaboration with industry is missing ie discrepancies in designated zone maps. There is a need to sit down as an industry and collaborate on the issue.
Training
- Henley has an effective apprenticeship program with the HIA.
- Fantastic people coming from TAFEs. The University focus is on commercial and they would like to see more emphasis on residential.
Ms Jeanette Gage was the fourth and final speaker for the day, providing the perspective as both a student and as a Registered Building Practitioner. Jeanette is a building inspector and owner of Engage Building Inspections. After working as a building works coordinator at the Glenelg Shire Council in the engineering department Jeanette was asked to join the building department in the council as a cadet building surveyor. She then focused her career on Building Surveying once it became very clear to her that it is a skills shortage area. Jeanette has achieved the Diploma and is currently attending the Gordon institute of TAFE doing the Advanced Diploma of Building Surveying and has since had her hard work and dedication recognised through a student award at Ballarat University, and industry recognition as theAustralian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) intern of the year in 2009 and Private Building Inspector of the year 2011.
Jeanette shared her experiences and highlighted the following:
- Originally applied for the degree with a couple of universities and was not accepted because of a lack of building experience.
- Tried correspondence but the need for classroom contact is very real for some students learning styles.
- There are many dedicated students and good teachers around, but some programs are affected by access to qualified teachers.
- There are significant limitations for ‘really regional’ students.
- Students are worried about the ‘scary’ registration process; with advice from the Building Commission not detailed enough to support the process.
- ‘The process should be more transparent, we don’t want to catch people out – we want to help them get in’.
- The registration process could possibly be included as part of the education of building surveying and inspecting students.
- In the future wants to; promote the industry and assist new students and people in rural areas, upgrade learning, align the education with the registration process, and to be proactive not reactive – work together.
