Fellow Members

Eric Martin, AM

Master (Built Environment), B Architecture (Hons), LFRAIA

Eric Martin completed his honours degree in Architecture at the University of Melbourne in 1972. He worked with the Department of Housing and Construction (DHC) in Victoria, ACT, NSW and Central Office up until the end of 1981. In 1980 he completed his Master’s Degree in the Built Environment at the University of NSW. On his return from Sydney he took up the position of ACT Region International Year for Disabled Persons (IYDP) Coordinator then acting DHC Central Office IYDP Project Officer controlling the Department's IYDP program throughout Australia in 1981. This was his introduction into an extended career in providing access advice.

In 1982 he left public service and took up the position of Canberra Manager and Director of the Cox Architecture Group. During his time with the Cox Architecture Group Eric had the responsibility of managing the Company's business in Canberra and directing the Canberra Office of a large national practice. This involved all facets of architectural practice including being director of large projects. He was also responsible for heritage and disability access provisions for the firm nationally. In 1998 he left the Cox Architecture Group to establish his own architectural practice offering a full range of services with additional expertise in architectural conservation, heritage and access for people with disabilities.

In the 23 years that Eric has managed his own practice, Eric Martin and Associates, he has developed a national and international reputation for his work in the areas of accessibility and heritage buildings. He has been an active practitioner in these areas as well as general architecture. During this period he has given his time to taking on almost 50 honorary positions in organisations associated with architecture, access and heritage. He has also presented and lectured at many conferences and courses (more than 120) in Australia and overseas. He has produced 40 books, articles, chapters and papers in his area of expertise.

Eric has received significant recognition for this work. He was awarded a Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2005 for his professional and community work in Heritage and Access. In 2009 he was awarded the Inaugural Margaret Spalding Award for excellence by an individual in delivering services and contributing to people with disabilities at the 2009 ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards. It was noted that Eric had provided access advice and work on more than 1,000 buildings in the ACT. Recently it has been estimated that number has risen to 3,000 to 4,000. In 2013 he was awarded a Life Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Architects. The National Trust (ACT) conferred on him an honorary Life Membership. This was followed in 2019 by his being awarded the Australian Institute of Architects ACT Chapter Architectural Professional Practice Award. In conferring this award the Institute noted that:

‘Eric’s contribution to architectural practice, the wider profession and indeed the community is enormous and sustained. Eric is a life Fellow of the Institute and an exemplary professional architect who has promoted the profession with his competence, dignity, intelligence and good humour.’

Eric is a past President of the ACAA a position he held for 4 years and has served on the ACAA Management Committee for 14 years. He has continued to assist the ACAA in various capacities since 2014. He was awarded a Fellow of Association of Consultants in Access, Australia in 2020.

Eric is currently a member of the Australian Institute of Architects National Access Work Group, the Institute’s National Practice Committee, the Institute’s Representative on the UIA Region IV International Committee on Access and Heritage. He is a member of the Australian Building Codes Committee. He is also a member of the Australian Standards Committees ME64 (Access) and ME004 (Lifts).

Although Canberra-based, his access work is national, with extensive work in Queensland. He undertakes projects in all states and territories on a regular basis.

Ms Joe Manton

Inaugural recipient of the ACAA Fellowship Award

Joe Manton, Director of Access Institute, was the recipient of the inaugural Fellow Membership Award of ACAA.

This award was in recognition of the significant contribution Joe made in the field of access as an entrepreneur in the development and delivery of access qualifications for the Certificate IV in Access Consulting, the Diploma of Access Consulting and numerous other courses offered by Access Institute. The award also recognised Joe’s contribution to advance the rights of people with a disability in her career as an advocate and expert Access Consultant.

After a successful career in management and leadership in local government, Joe began her life as an Access Consultant in the early 1990s. Joe initially established Access Audits Australia, a highly successful access consulting business providing services to many hundreds or organisations Australia wide, including many local Councils.

Throughout the early years in the industry, Joe became acutely aware of the lack of formal qualifications for Access Consultants and believed that for the industry to prosper, Access Consultants needed to be on a par with other professionals working in the building and development sectors. She funded an educational visit to London to spend time at the Centre for Accessible Environments, where she was asked to present to students who were working towards their qualifications in Access Consulting in the UK.

This experience, combined with her vision and passion to professionalise Access Consulting, led to her developing a nationally Registered Training Organisation and to develop and deliver the Certificate IV and Diploma of Access Consulting qualifications.

Joe believed that it would be inevitable that governments and other clients requiring access consulting services would only be interested in engaging qualified professionals. It was therefore imperative that the opportunity was provided to interested candidates to undertake formal training to enter the sector well equipped for the rigours of the role. This prediction was proven to be correct, as a range of government departments - as well as the NDIS - have made it mandatory for access professionals to hold a qualification in access consulting in order to provide relevant access services.

In addition to her own business role, Joe served on the ACAA Management Committee for seven years, including time as the Vice President of the association.

This was a challenging time for the industry as they grappled with moving from the older, more benevolent concept of access, to understanding and embracing access as a fundamental component of Universal Design that had benefits far greater than for the disability sector alone.

Joe’s drive, enthusiasm, and commitment to contribute to all aspects of committee work - be that in policy development, membership application and support, conference and event organising, and development of a professional basis for ACAA members – has been outstanding.

Over the past thirty years Joe has presented to, and contributed to many thousands of organisations, individuals and industry sector working groups across Australia as well as overseas, to support and advance the profession of access consulting. She continues to expand the role of Access Institute as the key training organisation for Access Consultants in Australia, now delivering not only the access consulting qualifications but also the LHA Assessor, SDA Assessor and Changing Places Assessor courses, as well as a wide range other programs to support the ongoing development of the sector.

The access profession owes Joe a debt of gratitude.

Chris Porter

Access Consultant

A JOURNEY OF THREE PARTS

Cathryn Grant took time out recently to discuss with Chris the journey he took to end up being awarded a Fellow of ACAA. In a nutshell, it can be broken down into three parts.

1. ADELAIDE AND SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Raised & educated in Adelaide, the result was a degree in Architecture from SAIT (now on Uni SA). His first job was with an architect specialising in heritage, churches and bank branches. However, the pay rate was very low and was supplemented by casual work at Adelaide’s leading sports store on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. The sports store was instrumental in honing sales and customer service skills. Impromptu competitions were held amongst the staff to see how many sales of a particular product could be achieved on a given night. The gift of the gab often enhanced by a pre-work session at the Uni bar Friday afternoon. During those university days, Chris was actively involved in running youth groups and as treasurer of the local tennis club. However, when Peddle Thorp Brisbane came south seeking staff to work in Brisbane in August 1981, he accepted the offer and headed north. The pay rate made it hard to refuse, and the challenge of it all exciting.

2. BRISBANE AND FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND

The jump from a 2 person office in Adelaide to a very large Architectural practice with 80 staff in Brisbane, working on large commercial office and hotel projects was significant, but Chris soon found himself thrust into the Project Architect role, managing a team of architects and draftspersons, and dealing with crafty and sometimes, unreasonable builders and clients. The faith that the directors of the firm had in Chris has never been lost on him. The construction market was roaring in 1988 (World Expo had been hosted at Southbank) and the first half of 1989. Then it all changed overnight as project after project was shelved.

An opportunity arose to then move to Cairns. Peddle Thorp had bought out an established Cairns practice and wanted one of their own to keep an eye on the place. Chris was quick to put his hand up and moved there with the young family in November 1989, becoming a Director in 1991. In 1989, the pilot’s strike was in full swing, the economy was very damaged, but Chris had a hospital project to manage plus schools and aged care for the Catholic Church, so there was no downtime.

Opportunities arose on projects throughout the Far North Queensland region and Papua New Guinea. His time spent travelling Cape York and the Torres Strait islands was very special, as primary health care centres and remote area housing for medical staff were being provided in many indigenous and islander communities. Three day site inspection trips in a small plane every month during 1994 and 1995 with the client rep, engineer, clerk of works and builder were a lot of fun. The Cairns climate (maybe not wet season) and lifestyle were very enjoyable aspects of the time there.

3. MELBOURNE AND ACCESS CONSULTING

While still in Cairns, a chance meeting in 1998 saw the establishment of Architecture & Access in November of that year. A review of the accessibility of some of the recently completed healthcare projects identified that, especially in the islander communities, compliance with AS1428.1 (the 1993 version at this time) as per the client brief, did not meet the needs of the people. Double wheeled chairs do not fit through 800mm clear openings. Moving south to Melbourne in August 1999, Chris & Diane hung the shingle out hoping the larger Melbourne market would embrace the ‘access newcomers’. It was a slow-ish start, but by 2003 Chris was able to give up architectural subcontract work to focus fully on the ‘access’ business. Staff were employed and the house split in two, with the front bedrooms absorbed to accommodate the new recruits. Training of new Access Consultants began in earnest.

In 2012, an opportune phone call to Andrew Sanderson saw the merger between Andy’s Blythe Sanderson Group and Architecture and Access conceived and effected in 5 weeks. The combination of the two firms enabled further expansion and more staff to be employed and trained, with offices also opened in Brisbane and Adelaide.

A very gratifying element for Chris, is not only the number of staff who have now clocked up long service leave at A&A, but also those who have left and have taken up significant roles in other firms.

4. THOUGHTS FROM THE JOURNEY

The balance between work and the rest of life is a challenge to us all, especially for those where their job is a life passion. Keeping a healthy body and mind is paramount. Chris, as well as his involvement with ACAA for many years, has been President/ Treasurer of a number of Kindergarten committees – I mean with six children it is hard to avoid a role. Currently he is involved in both junior and senior tennis committees and has led his team to successive premierships in the last two completed seasons. Weekly squash games have also continued over the years as well, so his life is not all about work and no play. Having a very hard working father, who loved all his roles, has certainly influenced Chris’ outlook, a trait that can now be seen in Chris’s children in their various pursuits.

Chris fondly remembers the early days of ACAA back in 2000, and the drive that the ACAA founders had back then to create Access Consulting as a profession in the construction industry. His goal has always been to build on that, to train more professional Access Consultants so that we collectively, can have greater strength as a group and help influence a more inclusive and accessible environment.