8 July 2014 – Tim Horton has moved back to Sydney to take over as chief executive of the NSW Architects Registration Board.
The move comes after Mr Horton made a splash in Adelaide in various roles directed to improve the architectural profession and advocating for more sustainable and innovative design.
His roles included president of the Institute of Architects South Australia in 2009-10, Commissioner for Integrated Design, a member of the Built Environment Industry Innovation Council, founding chief executive of the Committee for Adelaide and board member of the Co-operative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, which aims to connect government and industry in development of a low carbon buildings and communities.
He told The Fifth Estate on Monday that the board he now headed was a “very stable and very good organisation, thanks to the work of Kate Doyle who headed it for 10 years and has now joined the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia.
“It’s a privilege to take the seat that Kate held and built into a very stable and very good organisation that set the standard to other boards around the country,” Mr Horton said.
Among the goals of the board he said would be to promote the role of architecture to the community.
First cab off the rank would be an architectural festival in Sydney in October/November, to be developed in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Architects and Sydney Living Museums, which works by “leveraging existing cultural institutions”.
Mr Horton said that NSW had among the “healthiest and strongest” understanding between the parties in the built environment – “architects, financiers, developers; it’s a pretty mature field here in NSW”.
These various elements in the industry, he said, had a good understanding of the connection design, development, construction and the built effect.
This was thanks to the role of groups such as the Green Building Council of Australia, the Property Council and the Committee for Sydney, he said.
“Built environment matters. On the whole it’s about celebrating what architecture and design means.”