Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Gehry design for UTS in Sydney
























http://www.utsmasterplan.com.au/dr-chau-chak-wing/about-the-design

"UTS has been working with Gehry Partners to design a world-class Business School inspired by the concept of a tree-house structure. As Gehry Partners explains, "a cluster of ‘tree houses’ or vertical stacks of floors with spatial ‘cracks’ in between." This will create a focused space for research while at the same time encouraging cross-disciplinary exchange. This interrelationship is one of the main goals of the School."

For a commentary read this:
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2012/03/21/is-architecture-mostly-about-marketing/

I think it's a shame that the university is using an overseas architect to design one of it's buildings. There are great designers in this country, including past students of the UTS!

What do you think?

April BDAQ meeting

Wednesday, 11th April, 2012.


Pacific Paradise Bowls Club.

13 Menzies Drive, Pacific Paradise.

Meeting Commences 6.00pm.
No charge to attend meeting.
(Tax deductable 2 course meal available for $20)

SPONSOR: 
  • BREEZWAY - Tony Hair and Paul Nelson from Breezway will update us on all the latest products including Altair Stronghold and Powerlouvres.           http://www.breezway.com.au/     (Tony hair 0433 149 588)
SPECIAL PRESENTATION:

  • POMO - Lisa Harrison from POMO will talk to us about some of the secrets of social media and how you can utilise it to assist your business. http://www.pomo.com.au/    (Lisa Harrison 0414 646 071)   
BAR TAB:

Treasurer Ray is organizing a bar tab on the night - so come along and enjoy a free beer, wine or softdrink - on the branch. 

AGM:

The BDAQ Sunshine Coast Branch annual general meeting will be conducted during the evening. A number of executive positions will be declared vacant - please consider contributing to 'your' association by volunteering to fill an executive role. Participation by 'New blood' is encouraged to keep the branch vital and to introduce new ideas and concepts to the meetings so as to benefit members and encourage attendance.

Members note: Please bring your business card to provide to sponsors.

Close of Meeting at 8:30 pm approx.


Please remember to RSVP and advise of any special dietary requirements to ian@mojodesign.net.au

Thursday, March 22, 2012

correct installation of windows

Thanks to Lifestyle windows – detail for the correct installation of windows to prevent moisture penetration:

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

2012 National Construction Code (NCC) is NOW Available...

REMINDER: The 2012 NCC comes into effect from 1st May.

NCC 2012 is now being distributed.  You will need to replace your 2011 Volumes with one or more of the following Volumes:

• Volume One: Building Code of Australia 2012
• Volume Two: Building Code of Australia - Housing Provisions 2012
• Volume Three: Plumbing Code of Australia 2012
• Guide to the BCA 2012

To ensure continuity of your online service and to receive your 2012 NCC Volume/s you will now need to place your order through our new Online Shop at: www.abcb.gov.au

The Online Shop also provides you with a choice of different NCC and BCA packages, including: Hard Copy & Web Access; PDF download & Web Access; or Hard Copy, PDF download & Web Access.

If you would like further information on the NCC product range, or having difficulties logging in, please call 1300 134 631.

Please note: EFT or cheque payments can no longer be accepted under the new purchasing arrangements.

Visit the

* A 10% student discount is applicable for full-time students.  Visit the Online Shop for more information.
www.abcb.gov.au Online Shop to purchase your 2012 product today.
www.abcb.gov.au

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Legislation Amendments allow Electronic Submissions on Development Applications

Legislation Amendments allow Electronic Submissions on Development Applications

Issue 2012-05

Recent amendments to planning legislation public notification requirements have improved the ability to lodge electronic submissions on development applications at Sunshine Coast Council.  The changes amend approved public notification forms that must be used by development applicants and include an email address to which electronic submissions can be sent.

The Sustainable Planning Act (SPA) enables Council, as the assessment manager, to accept electronic submissions (e.g. by email).  However, in order for electronic submissions to be “properly made” as the legislation requires, the public notices have to include the assessment manager’s email address.  Previously, this was problematic, as the approved forms did not include a space or a field where Council’s email address could be included.

The amendments now rectify this issue.  Where an assessment manager advises the applicant (e.g. through an acknowledgement notice or other form of communication) that they are willing to accept electronic submissions to a particular email address, that address must now be included in a new field that has been added to the approved forms.

Council already advises development applicants through the acknowledgement notice that written submissions can be made electronically to
mail@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au

Because of these changes, development applicants must now ensure that they include this email address on all required public notices within the Sunshine Coast area, including public notices placed on the land, published in the newspaper, and given to each adjoining land owner.  Not all development applications need to be publicly notified, but the SPA requires that those that do use the approved forms.

Consultants who use advertising companies for public notification procedures need to ensure that these changes are relayed to them.

The amendments, which affect SPA forms 4 and 5 and the “Guide on public notification of certain development applications” applies to all public notification procedures from 1 March 2012.

The amendments to the legislation also introduce other changes, including reducing the size of SPA form 5 and requirements for particular aquaculture development in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

For further information, go to the Department of Local Government and Planning’s website at
http://www.dlgp.qld.gov.au/forms-templates/sustainable-planning-act-forms-and-templates.html

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

CAD & BIM Standards

For those interested in BIM standards there is now a Standards Document released from the UK http://aecuk.wordpress.com/ with versions for both Revit and Bentley products.

Here is the link the Revit Standard: http://aecuk.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/aecukbimstandardforrevit-v1-0.pdf

Anyone know of an Australian Standard?

Monday, March 5, 2012

BDAQ Logo up for review - have your say!

Good Morning Sunny Coast Members

The subject of the BDAQ Logo was discussed at the BDAQ Management Council Meeting held over this last weekend.

It was decided to put it back to the members.

At our next meeting we will have a vote for:

  1. Leave the logo in it’s current form
  2. Refresh the current logo or
  3. Change it all together

Please attend Branch Meeting at Lifestyle Windows 14th March to have your say.
Results of the vote are to be passed on the Management Council no later than
Friday 30th March.

Kind Regards

Bev Jorgensen

Friday, March 2, 2012

Ditching Delays – How To Have Your Supporting Documents Dealt With Swiftly BY COUNCIL

Ditching Delays – How To Have Your Supporting Documents Dealt With Swiftly
Issue 2012-04

Sunshine Coast Council is always happy to accept documents in support of development applications on CD as well as in hard copy format.

While it is perfectly acceptable to submit your supporting documents in hard copy format only, putting a copy on CD as well can help speed up the development approval process as the documents get to the decision makers more swiftly.

However, it only works when what’s submitted exactly matches what’s on the CD, so if you are submitting a CD of documents, please ensure that what’s on there is precisely the same as your hard copy documents.

In addition, council does ask that anyone submitting documents on CD as well as in hard copy pay particular attention to three matters.

• File types.  Please ensure that pdfs are used and no Word documents are submitted.  While some plans and drawings may be specifically requested to be in a specialist program format, generally pdfs are preferred and should be lodged in the first instance.

• File sizes.  It is preferable that each document is smaller than 40MB.  While council’s systems can readily handle larger file sizes, supporting documents are put on the PD Online service, and anything too large can be difficult for users of this to open.

• File naming conventions.  It’s best if all your documents on the CD are easy to identify and find.  Because of this, include all of the following document types on your CD and name your documents as follows.

For new applications, include your application forms; covering letter and the development        application.  For the development application documents, name each part with its number of the series and its content.  For example:

        Development Application Part 1 of 5 - Development Report
        Development Application Part 2 of 5 - Proposal Plans
        Development Application Part 3 of 5 - Engineering Report & Traffic Impact Assessment Report
        Development Application Part 4 of 5 - Contamination Assessment
        Development Application Part 5 of 5 - Photographs

For responses to information requests, please follow the same naming convention, with    each part being numbered and named.  For example:

        Response to Information Request Part 1  of 5 - Covering letter
        Response to Information Request Part 2 of 5 - Architectural Plans
        Response to Information Request Part 3 of 5 - Stormwater Management Report
        Response to Information Request Part 4 of 5 - Geotechnical Report
        Response to Information Request Part 5 of 5 - Environmental Assessment Report


If you want to check you have everything needed in support of your development application, please contact Development Information on 5475-PLAN (5475-7526) or drop into one of the Development Information counters at Maroochydore, Nambour, Tewantin or Caloundra.




Catherine Sinclair | Development Services Liaison Officer
Director's Unit, Development Services
Sunshine Coast Council

Ph: 07 5475 9871
Email:
catherine.sinclair@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au

Social Media for Architects

A great book has just been released written by a US architect, Enoch Sears, called Social Media for Architects.

Enoch has developed a blog site called businessofarchitecture discussing the business and strategies of being in the building design industry. Here is Enoch's introduction to his site:


welcome to the only place on the internet (that I know of) devoted exclusively to helping the small architecture firm and solo practitioner succeed. The focus here is simple: discussion of ways for architects to make more money and use time more effectively, especially by harnessing the power of the internet and productivity tools.
His book, Social Media for Architects, explains how to make effective use of all forms of Social Media for your business. The book is a free PDF download, and requires registration with the businessofarchitecture web site. Highly recommended.

Here's the link:
http://businessofarchitecture.com/about/