Housing Australia cuts staff and sustainability
Housing Australia chief executive Scott Langford joined his board to visit housing projects across Sydney, we heard on Thursday, just a day after learning that while he was away on leave, his chief operating officer Lisa Braid as acting CEO, sacked a number of staff members including eliminating the senior sustainability role and reducing it to manager status.
The media statement announcing the tour of housing projects that were underway by Evolve Housing, SGCH, City West Housing, Bridge Housing and the Haymarket Foundation, made mention of hi-vis jackets and safety helmets, which tend to attract attention.
But what most attracted our attention was The AFR’s story that said the “federal Labor government’s flagship housing agency responsible for delivering 40,000 new social and affordable rental homes”, had cut staff by 10 and possibly 20 positions as part of a “sweeping restructure” from total staff numbers of 180.
This, after the Australian National Audit Office said the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, overseen by Housing Australia, was unlikely to meet its targets for social and affordable rental housing.
The article quoted a spokesperson from Housing Australia saying that some staff had been redeployed, but the big concern from our point of view was that “the agency’s treasury function would oversee sustainability and social bonds, and internal sustainability and climate change reporting would be performed by a manager.”
Another downgrade for sustainability in the built environment. Not great leadership, Mr Albanese.
A spokesperson for the agency told The Fifth Estate on Friday that: “A small number of individuals are affected by role redundancy as part of the restructure of the Operations and People and Culture Groups. People have been redeployed into alternate roles where possible and some processes are still underway”.
However, they said they did not have access to the specific numbers involved.
Low carbon cement material Pozzlock produced by MCi Carbon
A new low carbon cement produced by MCi Carbon called Pozzlock has been successfully used in a concrete field trial by Boral at its southwest facility in Maldon. The trial demonstrates that the material can be used in concrete through conventional batching and construction methods.
The trial was led by SmartCrete CRC with the support of Transport NSW and the University of Technology Sydney, which has been investigating new low-carbon cementitious materials for use in infrastructure projects.
Made from synthetic pozzolans and designed to partially replace high emissions clinker used in concrete, which is formed from heating clays and limestone at high temperatures. The company said each tonne of the material used could potentially avoid around 0.5 tonnes of CO2 and potentially more once at scale. While the material replaced 5 per cent of cement during the trial, the project will evaluate replacement of up to 10 per cent in the future.
New Net Zero building training centre
Western Sydney University has launched a new national centre, With the wordy title of The Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Digital Platforms for Net-Zero Building Ecosystem Lifecycle, or ARC ITTC NØBEL in short or even shorter, the NØBEL Centre. Its job is to help the construction industry deliver smarter and lower carbon buildings with an industrial training centre dedicated to “net-zero building ecosystem lifecycle”. This will include developing digital tools to support advanced manufacturing technologies to help with mass producing high performance buildings, as well as build upon existing breakthroughs.
Western Australia recognises AIBS accreditation
The Western Australian government will formally recognise the accreditation given by the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) as a pathway towards being a registered building surveyor. The Institute said it was an important step towards nationwide consistency in registration of building surveyors across Australia. The accreditation is already recognised in Queensland, South Australia and the ACT and Victoria.
Chief executive Sid Gokani said building surveyors play a critical role in protecting public safety and ensuring buildings comply with Australia’s regulatory framework, and it was important to have a system that promotes competence, accountability and consistency.
