17 minute read
A message from the CEO
A MESSAGE FROM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MICHAEL HOPKINS
It’s Time to Celebrate Achievements and Tales of Triumph
The news headlines of 2020 were dominated by COVID-19, but when you think back to what else the Canberra construction industry achieved, there is much to celebrate.
Fundamentally our most significant achievement for 2020 was keeping our industry working through the pandemic. This was achieved because of the joint advocacy of all the MBA Associations, supported by other industry associations, but most importantly because our members demonstrated their commitment to safety and rapidly implemented new processes on work sites.
There were a number of other advocacy achievements in 2020. The Federal HomeBuilder program was one of the most important. This program was supported by stamp duty and Lease Variation Charges implemented by the ACT Government. For the Civil and Commercial sectors, the ACT Government brought forward capital works projects and announced a $4 Billion, 4 year, infrastructure program, supported by additional Federal Government infrastructure funding. All of these programs have helped keep our members working through 2020.
During 2020 we celebrated the finalists and winners from the CCF Earth Awards and MBA Building Awards. Winner of the MBA House of the Year went to Daniel Fitzpatrick from Architekt Grüne Häuser for his winning home in Deakin. Construction Control and Amalgamated Property Group won MBA Project of the Year for Civic Quarter. More information about the 2020 award winners is available on page 22.
While there will still be significant economic uncertainty with us in 2021, the Canberra building and construction industry has much to be proud of from 2020, and plenty of reasons to be optimistic in 2021. We look forward to celebrating our members and industry at MBA events over the year ahead, which started with the Excellence Awards launch on 4 February. We held a panel discussion about the growth and projects throughout the City Renewal Authority’s Northbourne corridor area featuring speakers Malcolm Snow – City Renewal Authority, and Phil O’Brien – Amalgamated Property Group. Thank you to all attendees, sponsors and panellists for attending the event.
MBA Australia Chief Economist Shane Garrett outlines what can be expected for the ACT construction industry is his article on page 64 and based on our national forecasts there are good things to come for the ACT.
In the year when digital communication became the COVID safest method of interaction, the MBA social channels received more engagement than ever before. The Facebook post with the highest number of reactions was the Sutton & Horsley 30 Year Member Milestone photo.
Master Builders ACT is ready to support all of our members throughout 2021 and we look forward to assisting all of our members run safe, productive and successful businesses this year.
Peace of mind.
The Master Builders Fidelity Fund was established in 2002 to protect the interests of both consumers and builders in the ACT.
For Builders, the Master Builders Fidelity Fund provides financial certainty as money held by the Fund remains in the ACT. It is securely invested and used for the betterment of the ACT builders and consumers and is therefore not subjected to the vagaries of international markets and events.
The Fidelity Fund issues Fidelity Certificates which provide consumer protection for owners of new homes and those making significant changes to homes. The Certificates protect the owner during construction and for up to five years from the date of practical completion.
Master Builders members receive reduced premium rates and we also offer special discounts for volume users of the Fidelity Fund. For more information contact the Master Builders Fidelity Fund.
Go online and find the cover that is right for you.
www.mba.org.au/consumer-advice/home-warranty-insurance
Master Builders Fidelity Fund
1 Iron Knob St, Fyshwick ACT 2609 PO Box 1211, Fyshwick ACT 2609 Tel: (02) 6175 5995 Email: mdouch@mba.org.au Web: www.mba.org.au
Three Master Builders ACT members were winners at the 2020 National Business Leadership Awards:
Complex Co won the Medium Civil Construction Business of the Year award
AMA Projects won Medium Commercial Construction Business of the Year award
Rawson Group won the Large Residential Building Business of the Year award Master Builders ACT Apprentice of the Year, Andrew Van Dartel, won the Certificate of Excellence in Carpentry Encouragement award at the CITC Training Awards. The outstanding meritorious carpentry award went to one of our MBA user choice apprentices, Adrian Glamcevski, from J&J Interiors.
ADRIAN GLAMCEVSKI ANDREW VAN DARTEL
Master Builders ACT member, Pacific Stone, were featured in an article by ABC Canberra about their new Silca health-monitoring system. They are investing around $850 per worker a year, to ensure the safety of their workers.
The 2020 Sustainable Residential project winner was featured on an episode of Grand Designs Australia. The Rivett home was completed by MBA members D3 Projects and Capezio Copeland. The home was designed to be an underground eco bunker, which prioritises sustainability and low running costs. Built to be integrated with nature, the home is a natural habitat for native frogs, lizards and birds.
PROJECTS
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MASTER BUILDERS
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR RECIPIENT
THANK YOU TO EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THESE AWARDS, IT IS THANKS TO YOU THAT WE GET TO CELEBRATE THESE OUTSTANDING HOMES IN THIS PUBLICATION.
Make 2021 Your Year of Safety
JACQUELINE AGIUS WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMISSIONER
MBA members can contact us at CMTEDDWorksafe@act.gov.au if you have suggestions for improving safety across this industry.
More information about WorkSafe ACT is available at worksafe.act.gov.au WorkSafe ACT is committed to the health and safety of workers, the community and our staff. As we begin the new year, we want you to recognise that worker’s health and safety is everyone’s responsibility and we all need to protect our workers.
Construction remains a key priority for WorkSafe ACT in 2021 and we are continuing to develop targeted strategies to help improve the safety culture in your industry. Operation Safe Prospect, our ongoing campaign to help improve safety in the residential construction industry, saw 203 Improvements Notices; 64 Prohibition Notices; and 15 Infringement Notices issued between August and December 2020.
Silica dust continues to be a priority focus for WorkSafe ACT. It poses a significant health and safety risk to workers, and we will continue to collaborate with industry, other jurisdictions and Safe Work Australia on this important matter.
Addressing psychosocial hazards in the workplace is also a priority for WorkSafe ACT. PCBU’s must recognise that violence in the workplace should never be tolerated. To help address this issue, WorkSafe ACT is increasing our staff capabilities, while also establishing working groups with industry stakeholders to address the hazards and mitigate risks to workers.
The bushfires of 2020 were further evidence that the impact of climate change on work environments will continue to present major challenges to workplace safety. WorkSafe ACT is committed to providing a strong, regulatory response to make sure employers continue to meet their obligations to workers under WHS legislation.
As the regulator, we provide information and advice about WHS to both duty holders and the community. We promote an understanding, acceptance of, and compliance with the legislation. This includes promoting a strong work safety culture and providing advice and information about the obligations that PCBUs must comply with under the legislation.
WorkSafe ACT, as a newly established independent regulator, knows that all workers deserve a safe workplace. In 2021, our compliance and enforcement approach will include practicing proportionate, transparent and consistent enforcement that is responsive to the circumstances of the duty holder or workplace. Every PCBU has a duty of care to meet its legal responsibility to make sure workers get home safely. This year, and in the years to come, we remain committed to improving safety, and we will continue to work closely with all industries to improve the safety culture in the ACT. We will not hesitate to take enforcement action to make sure risks to workers are appropriately managed.
Shaping Safety in the Construction Industry
PHILLIP SMITH, GROUP EXECUTIVE – ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, SAFETY AND QUALITY AT SHAPE AUSTRALIA.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen obstacle meet innovation and the results are fantastic. One of these fantastic moments, was the introduction of a new Safety Minimum Standards app created by MBA Member Shape Australia. We chatted with Phillip Smith, Group Executive - Environment, Health, Safety and Quality at SHAPE Australia about the Minimum Standards app.
Q: What is the SHAPE Minimum Standards app?
A: The SHAPE Minimum Standards (SMS) app provides construction workers quick and easy access to environmental, health, safety and quality management information from any mobile device. The app assists contractors in developing their safe systems of work, conducting risk assessments and recognising potential onsite safety hazards in real time. It contains the key expectations of SHAPE’s environmental, health, safety and quality management systems, as well as relevant WHS legislation, Australian Standards and Codes of Practice.
SHAPE is passionate about making our industry safer and reducing the number of incidents on construction sites. That’s why we’ve made our SMS app publicly available for free download from the Apple App Store for iPhones, Google Play for Android phones, and from the SHAPE website for all other devices. We want to help improve the culture of safety in our industry by making safety information instantly available at the fingertips of contractors anytime, anywhere.
Q: What responses have you received from users of the app?
A: We’ve received extremely positive feedback regarding the SMS app, both anecdotal and through quantitative data. In fact, since the app was introduced, we have seen a significant improvement in our workforce’s understanding of asbestos management. For example, we have seen a decrease in incidents and increased logging of positive observations. Before the release of the SMS, asbestos-related positive observations were reported at 0.25 a month and this has since increased by 1,744% to 4.36 per month. Likewise, SHAPE’s electrical incidents decreased by 67% and asbestos-related incidents decreased by 29% since the app was introduced.
Q: Why did you think it was important to create the SHAPE Minimum Standards app?
A: Ensuring our people and our contractors have the right tools for the job and that they go home safely at the end of the day is our top priority. Additionally, we also want to see safety standards improve across the entire construction industry, which is why we believe it is so important to have created the SMS app and made it accessible for anyone to download. We’re extremely proud to offer this industry-first SMS app publicly and hope it can help lift the safety outcomes on construction sites across Australia.
Q: Do you think this app encourages people to be more aware of COVID-19 health and safety procedures?
A: Yes, most definitely. We updated the standards as soon as we implemented SHAPE’s COVID-19 Business Continuity Plan. As part of this, SHAPE has utilised the app as a tool for communicating site COVID-19 safety information by breaking down content from our Coronavirus Action Plan, site implementation guides and other resources. This includes topics such as hygiene, cleaning regimes, temperature screening, PPE requirements and physical distancing.
Construction, like every other industry, has worked hard to adapt to a new way of working during the pandemic to keep businesses operating while keeping SHAPE’s teams, clients and the public safe.
The SMS app has been a great way for us to communicate the site Coronavirus management information that we developed for our onsite teams and is a practical tool that our contractors can use across all the sites they work on.
Q: How does this app promote safer practices?
A: The SMS app promotes safer practices and prevents injuries by increasing subcontractors’ awareness and understanding of common, yet often hidden site hazards such as asbestos and electricity. Likewise, the app helps to lift safety standards by providing instant support and having the ability to identify potential risks in real time through the app, which ensures our team goes home safe. In addition, getting safety and technical information to workers and subcontractors was not always a seamless transition, so we relied heavily on site inductions, procedures and policies. However now, with the SMS app, site teams are more productive with the ease of having all the information at our fingertips in dot point form, allowing us to instantly reference the app wherever we go.
Q: Are you looking to incorporate additional safety measures/equipment in the future?
A: At SHAPE, we pride ourselves on a safety-first culture and always place the wellbeing of our people and subcontractors as top priority. As such, we know having the right tools for the job is so important which is why we are constantly looking for new innovations and technology to improve safety performance. As an example we are currently enhancing our internal electronic incident reporting / investigation platform so as it is mobile device compatible allowing early and efficient initial incident notifications to be completed and distributed while on the ground rather than at a desk.
At SHAPE our focus has always been on continuous improvement, and we see investment in our people and safety technology as an investment in the industry as a whole, our subcontractors work with other builders and therefore we hope that the standards we set on our projects extend across the industry to set new and ever improving workplace safety outcomes and conditions.
360 DEGREE APPROACH TO SAFETY
The COVID-19 pandemic presented a new array of challenges for all industries to overcome. With almost 20,000 Canberra residents employed in the construction sector, it was crucial that the industry found a way to stay operational. Many MBA members found innovative ways to implement new health and safety procedures, including 360 Building.
Dean Struys, Managing Director of 360 Building, says the team took preventative COVID-19 safety measures from the start saying, “After COVID-19 hit the Canberra community, we took it seriously from the get-go, using hand sanitiser, social distancing and weekly team briefings to communicate updates from the ACT Government. As a company we also decided to undertake the Infection Control Training-COVID 19 Certificate to ensure all employees were educated and aware of the risks of COVID-19.”
But the 360 Building team went beyond the COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, and introduced a new site register app. This app allowed all onsite visitors to scan a QR code and be taken through a health and safety questionnaire, all from their own mobile device. Dean says the app was particularly helpful with monitoring onsite numbers, “A real time update in activity onsite is a valuable asset especially while we are in the office or on another project, not to mention the environmental benefit of minimising paper usage.”
The app has provided a crucial new means of communicating important safety messages, “What it allows us to do is remind our trades and staff of the current global situation without sounding like a broken record”, Dean said. Dean believes that this app is just another way that the 360 Building team can promote safe practices across their sites, “The building industry has more challenges with safety than any other so we believe it’s important to be as proactive as possible to ensure we all go home to our families at the end of the day.”
The team will continue to expand their safety practices as legislation and technology evolve.
HARVEY NORMAN COMMERCIAL 20 YEAR MEMBER MILESTONE
More Than Beautiful Furnishings
As Harvey Norman Commercial reaches 20 years of MBA Membership, there is a plentiful history and wonderful memories to reflect upon. Harvey Norman Commercial is one of MBA’s Premium Partners, Excellence Awards sponsors and a valued supporter of the Women in Construction Group. Harvey Norman Commercial is a respected company amongst our membership base, with the HNC team being an important stop off for our members, on the way to creating a number of award-winning homes and projects.
We spoke with ACT Branch Manager, Gavin Pound, to find out about Harvey Norman Commercial’s rich history with Master Builders ACT.
ABOVE: HARVEY NORMAN COMMERCIAL – COMMERCIAL EQUIPMENT Q. What is the founding story of Harvey Norman Commercial in Canberra?
G. Harvey Norman Commercial started as a small two person extension of our retail store in Fyshwick. One salesperson and a delivery driver, utilising an old storeroom and some leftover warehouse space. We have now grown from this to be part of the largest Harvey Norman Franchise worldwide based in Taren Point, Sydney
Q. What products/services do you specialise in?
G. We are a “one stop shop” aimed specifically at the Building and Trade industry. Plumbing, Electrical, Air Conditioning, Civil Plumbing, Solar, Joinery & Fit outs, Professional Solutions, Smart Home Automation, Office Furniture, Stadium Supplies to name a few.
Q. How is the Canberra Commercial market different from other states?
G. The Canberra Market is very progressive and very educated in terms of what the client is looking for, especially in terms of sustainability, and a government that is very attuned to that. The Government’s investment in solar has created a big market in the ACT.
