QLD News & Media
Taneile Nixon - Qfresh Chair

Hi AILA Queensland!

With the Christmas Break a distant memory, Qfresh has been busily working away to set ourselves up for 2020. The first item on the agenda was to wrangle the best and brightest troops to form our Qfresh Committee and I am excited to announce they are; Taneile Nixon (Chair), Sara Eckermann (Vice-Chair), Skye Reid (Vice-Chair), Holly Peacock, Georgia England, Hannah Kernahan, Andy Belcher, Owen Café, Julia McCann, Connor Evers and Marina Couchman!
This year, our committee is eager and committed to creating excellent educational and networking opportunities for you all! During our first committee meeting we conceptualised 5 key events we would like to deliver over the next 12 months and locked them into the calendar for March, May, July, September and November! We are keeping our cards close to our chest for now, so be sure to keep an eye out as details of each start emerging. 

As per usual we will also be hosting ‘Fresh Fridays’ in between each of our key events this year! If you are keen to get to know your fellow landscape architects in a really casual setting, then these get togethers are for you! 

As for our first event for the year… We are so thrilled to be hosting a design charette titled ‘Disruptive Design!’
In this event we will strive to teach you the skills to undertake out of the box thinking on the fly. We will be tackling a highly topical scenario in groups whilst the facilitator offers tips to generate creative thinking and strives to flip our typical design trajectory on its head. The event format has been likened to a design based ‘escape room’, so we can guarantee a laughter-filled and light-hearted evening! 

The event will take place on 3rd March (Week 2 of QUT Calendar) to perfectly avoid uni deadlines. To register or find out more head to the AILA website event page. 
Finally, I would like to say a big thankyou to Tract, Urbis, Vee and Wolter Consulting who have kindly agreed sponsor Qfresh in 2020! Our sponsor support is instrumental in helping us deliver events with great content that are free and accessible for our student/graduate members.

To stay up to date with what we are up to and for more information on our events please follow us on Facebook @ailafreshqld and Instagram @qfresh_aila as it is the easiest way for us to reach you all!

We hope to see you at one of our events soon!
David Uhlmann - State President

Hi AILA Queensland members – and belated happy new year!

The State Executive have met for the first time this year and are working through the priorities for the upcoming year including collaboration events, membership growth, advocacy, profiling our profession and sustainability.

• QBCC: We are continuing discussions with the Queensland Government and QBCC re licencing issues.  In early January we met with the Department of Housing & Public Works and QBCC where they agreed that Landscape Architects do not fit into the current license categories, meaning it will be difficult for standalone Landscape Architecture firms to obtain their recommended licence.  We are waiting for the Department and QBCC to come back to us with further options to streamline this process.   We have also requested a meeting direct with the Minister. 
• Awards:  2020 Awards planning is well underway with entries opening on February 18, so start thinking about your entries. Stay tuned for more information in the next week.
• PLAN:  It is great to see the Parents in Landscape Architecture Network up and running at a National level. Well done to Debbie La Porte who first bought the idea to the Queensland executive, and those who have assisted in getting it set up.
• Advocacy: We have a big year of both Local and State elections coming up which gives us a great opportunity to present our case to incumbent members and prospective candidate in issues of concern to Landscape Architects.   As for last years Federal Election we will be preparing an AILA Qld election platform, and will be encouraging Queensland members to use this platform to guide discussions with your local candidates.  
• Events:  We are focusing on more collaboration events this year with allied professions, with the first to be held as part of the Asia Pacific Architectural Festival on March 19.  We appreciate the value of events which provide both a CPD component and the opportunity to network with allied professionals so will be working with AIA, PIA and others to make this happen.
• New AILA CEO – the National board has been working hard on finding a new AILA CEO – keep an eye out for updates from the National office soon.
QLD News and Media
Innovative Rigging, State Supporting Partner
Project - Byron Bay Railway Park
Park Design: Plummer & Smith

This park is situated in the centre of Byron Bay, one of the oldest public spaces in the town. The site of the original railway station which closed over a decade ago has been revitalised and turned into an engaging space for families to come together.
The play structure was developed by Plummer and Smith and the playground supplier in conjunction with local council and community groups. The design incorporates many natural elements with a birds-nest like hub at the centre. Innovative Rigging worked to develop the mesh balustrade for the playground which allows the children to engage with the organic structure to ensure maximum safety, while still being able to appreciate the natural surroundings. The unique and organic shape of the playground had its own particular challenges with all surfaces being out of plane. The mesh had to be designed and manufactured with enough flex to allow for height restrictions and changes while still keeping with the original design intent. The mesh has a unique feature that it can flex and move off plane while still maintaining its structural capacity which was ideal in this application on the Railway Park. Our specialist CAD drafters and installers were able to work through these constraints and the outcome is has been a huge success with great community feedback.
Innovative Rigging is a Supporting Partner of AILA Qld, contact them to find out more.

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