This is my last column for Architecture Australia as National President. I have enjoyed the ›› responsibility and opportunity of writing for you. It was pleasing to get some feedback from ›› members (positive and negative!) to the pieces I had written.
Over the last year I have found that many of our members have high expectations of the ›› organisation, and are disappointed when the RAIA cannot live up to them. Many are unaware that ›› we are doing the things they criticise us for not doing. Some members have told me that we ought ›› to have done more on the regulation issue, when this campaign was quite successful. Another ›› criticism was our use of the media, but again, our continued good public profile nationally and in ›› some states does not bear this out. Certainly my national media tour and the continued excellent ›› coverage of our awards by print and electronic media demonstrated our continued good standing ›› with the press.
A small financial base (due to our relatively small membership) does, however, hamper the RAIA’s ›› activities, and although we have been creative in utilising our finances, we must rely on volunteers ›› if we want to mount any major campaign. Despite this, the RAIA continues to improve in its ›› effectiveness as an organisation. The restructure may have shown up some shortcomings, but ›› anyone looking at National Council now would conclude that there is a difference in make-up ›› from earlier councils.
Architecture is more and more in public eye, fuelled by more public interest in matters of lifestyle.
Sydney has seen the emergence of the “designer” apartment. Yet, beyond that, clients treat many ›› of us as though our skills are interchangeable with other architects and draftspeople. I deplore the ›› situation where we are pitted against each other for low fees, but reintroducing the fee scale is not ›› an option. It is our value to clients that will create better fees. Perhaps in our striving to produce ›› well-run firms that deliver consistency of service we have forgotten that the artistic expression of ›› our work is what creates the uniqueness of each architect. In other words it is design that matters ›› and the quality of our design skills (and of course an ability to deliver them) that will give us an ›› improved standing with our communities both professionally and financially.
In my term as President, the RAIA followed a policy of engaging with the community. We used the ›› popular press to reach those in the general community that ordinarily do not have any contact with ›› architects, to show them that architects have a vital role to play in today’s society, such as the tour ›› on ESD issues. I believe that increasing society’s expectations of what we can do creates a more ›› valuable role for us, and that this is an appropriate role for the RAIA as individual architects are ›› constrained by their own interests.
The building industry that we serve was also a critical focus for us. We achieved a milestone with ›› our historic Memorandum of Understanding with the MBA, which led to the republishing of joint ›› industry contracts. We also helped initiate a study aimed at improving documentation. Our ›› improved status with the industry followed our work on bodies such as ACIF, where we promoted a ›› major reform of construction industry procurement (similar to that recently introduced in the UK) in ›› a seminar in Sydney last June.
Much more needs to be done on the needs of members, and I am pleased to see Graham Jahn, ›› as incoming President, taking this issue forward. I believe that we need to make the RAIA the ›› organisation of choice for all of those in the design profession, and reach out to include in our ›› membership all those who have moved away from core consulting into other aspects of the ›› construction industry and teaching.
Thank you for your support for this last twelve months. Thank you too, to the management team of ›› the RAIA, including Michael Peck, Graham Scott-Bohanna and Sue Averay, who gave me their ›› excellent assistance. Despite the workload, I feel that I have received from the RAIA more than I ›› have given. With the Productivity Commission, the Convention and the Olympics it was a very ›› exciting year! I have enjoyed meeting and learning from all I have met in the year, and I am ›› convinced by all I saw here and abroad that Australian architects are as good as any in the world.
To have this acknowledged by the Australian community will be a challenge for my successors.
