message from the chief executive
What keeps me up at night? Nick Hill | BOINZ Chief Executive It’s a common enough question, but one I have been increasingly asked. It can change daily and having given it some thought, I would say a common theme is concern for the consequences of the pressures our wider building sector is under.
Often there is another issue that frustrates and that is “why can’t they see the woods for the trees” or put another way “will they again cause / contribute to another systemic building problem?”. Individually, one can do only so much to create positive and effective change. Organisationally a multiplication factor comes into play to lighten the load. That’s where Institutes like BOINZ and trade associations play their role. The 'not for profit', or ‘third sector’ as it is often called, is a vital collection of membership organisations that play their part in bringing detailed, consultative reality to the fore. Membership organisations have an ability to provide a sense of reality in this new world of constant regulatory restructure and resultant knowledge deprivation in an industry where hectic is often the norm. Don’t get me wrong, membership organisations can have their own version of hectic, but we are the repository of industry knowledge and generally we are genuinely working towards long term quality outcomes while dealing with short lived issues to achieve betterment. Industry businesses and individu-
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als on the other hand often experience downward spirals or sector confusions which require collective leadership and wise-head collaboration and assistance to achieve meaningful alterations. I believe the building sector is now at a point where it has no choice but to work together collaboratively. The upside is that over many years there are such groups, collectives or alliances within our building environment that has and will continue to make a difference. I am privileged to belong to a number of those on our members behalf, and I can truly say the intent and input of those involved is to be admired and supported. At my level, I cannot think of a build industry association CEO who does not have their sector or the industry at heart. We may view issues and points of discussion through differing lenses, but in general terms the longterm aspirations and visions align. So, when I received a communication earlier in the year from a Senior Regulatory Official in the building area advising that “to support capability building, MBIE is looking to develop more direct channels to front line regulators, including BCOs. As a result, MBIE will be better placed to perform its role to build sector capability and it will remove the reliance MBIE has on membership organisations to do this job” I was flabbergasted at what such a statement implied. This followed communications about being collaborative and transparent as a regulator. Hardly confidence inspiring when regulatory technical capacity appears to be reducing and the need to grow knowledge and skills across the sector is of paramount importance. Collaboration is vital in our sector as is a solid understanding of the issues. The
two go hand in hand. Two of the organisations I am involved with have delivered at differing levels, but both contribute positively to the sector. These are the Construction Industry Council (CIC), and the Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels (ACRS) of which I was recently elected as chair. The Construction Industry Council is a collective of build industry organisation CEO’s who meet and share knowledge and experiences, contribute to general consensus positions on topical, vital or trending issues and more recently have embarked on a number of projects to lift industry awareness. The mutual knowledge sharing assists individual CEO’s and their sectors to advance benefits for their own members, while collectively as a group there could be a solid voice to influence pragmatic and sensible industry direction. A good recent example of this was a collective discussion on the Building System Legislative Reform. BOINZ was able to share some preliminary work, as were other industry association CEO’s. A great example where working together provides the necessary perspective for a well-rounded submission to government. As mentioned, the CIC has invested in numerous sector wide projects, a new one being 'Industry Attractiveness'; a real attempt to transform and create a value rich perception of careers across the building sector, including our own. Watch this space, but in the meantime, BOINZ is actively promoting building surveying and building control as a meaningful and vitally important public role.
straight up | WINTER 2019
