CEO’s Foreword

Dear Members,

It has been a great pleasure to be able to personally visit members onsite, over the past few months, both in Metropolitan and Regional Victoria. In addition to having the opportunity to catch-up and engage in contentrich conversation, these visits have facilitated further insight into the most impactful issues currently faced by local builders in each area across the state. Thank you to all members that have hosted me to date. I look forward to meeting with more of our members over the coming months.

The building and construction industry continues to face several challenges, including supply and trade shortages, rising costs, and insolvencies. These issues have put builders at risk and impacted subcontractors, suppliers and consumers, exacerbating the problem of housing affordability. However, we know our industry is resilient and will continue to adapt to these ongoing challenges.

At MBV, we have been actively advocating on behalf of our members to address these challenges. We have been advocating for a review of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (the Act). We believe that a review is needed to ensure that the Act reflects current conditions in the market while safeguarding both builders and consumers. We have been engaging with Ministers and relevant stakeholders to highlight the challenges facing the industry and the need for urgent action to address them.

As leaders of our industry, MBV strongly believes in the power of social procurement to create positive change in our society. We are committed to celebrating best practices in social procurement, whilst raising the profile of social procurement and highlighting the benefits. We are proud to announce that MBV has partnered with Homes Victoria to create the inaugural Homes Victoria Excellence in Social Procurement Award. This award recognises the best approach to social procurement in construction and infrastructure projects across Victoria. The award winner will be announced at the MBV Excellence in Construction Awards in August 2023.

To directly address the skilled-labour shortage. MBV has continued to seek opportunities to expand our training and career pathway services. In line with this, MBV has recently entered a partnership with Holmesglen Institute to deliver a greater range of training options to our members operating in the Civil Construction sector. This partnership will include the delivery of world-class training services delivered at next generation training centres such as the Holmesglen Institute’s Victorian Tunnelling Centre. We look forward to sharing more information on this with our readers in the next issue of Master Builder magazine.

On Thursday 11th May 2023, more than 600 people joined us for our 2023 MBV State Apprentice of the Years Awards, where we recognised and celebrated the achievements of some of Victoria’s finest building and construction apprentices. The honour of this year’s MBV State Apprentice of the Year was awarded to Issac Stolk from Wendouree. Issac was nominated by his trainer GOTAFE and is employed by Robson Glass in Ballarat.

Together, with all of the MBV Team, I’d like to congratulate all of this year’s award winners, nominees and recipients of the Certificates of Merit.

I would also like to recognise the employers, training providers and families who supported the apprentices on their career journey. Without their combined ongoing encouragement and support, wisdom and patience, we wouldn’t be seeing the great achievements we’ve witnessed through these apprentice awards.

I would like to take this opportunity to formally welcome Geoff Purcell as our newly elected President. Geoff has previously served on the MBV Board as Deputy President and General Contractors Sector Committee Councillor. Prior to this, he also held the position of Chairperson on the General Contractors Sector Committee. Geoff joined Kane Constructions in 1993 as a cadet and worked through the business, becoming a Director in 2006.

Geoff has been involved with MBV for over eight years; and with his extensive experience in the industry and his proven leadership skills, we are confident that Geoff will help guide MBV towards continued success and growth. We are thrilled to have him on board as our new President.

To all our dedicated members, we thank you for your continued support of MBV and our work on your behalf. Thanks to you, we are able to directly support our industry in both growth and sustainability, together building a future that will benefit Victorians for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Michaela Lihou CEO, Master Builders Victoria