The BER and Aged Care

building the education revolution

how is the education sector going to impact on residential aged care redevelopment

Many of us in the industry went to the well attended seminar put on by Aged Care Queensland on the outcome of the final Productivity Commission (PC) Report findings which were ‘unpacked’ on the day. The seminar confirmed the direction of the previous draft, which was discussed at the annual ACQ conference earlier in the year. So there was no real, big surprise! Two questions still remain? Will the present Federal Government adopt the changes and will they be around long enough to implement them? There is every chance that the changes may happen if the industry remains united and behind the recommendations, but no guarantee that both sides of the political divide will support change.

I was reflecting on my article titled “Window is open but for how long?” which appeared in the Autumn edition of ACQWire and wondered what has happened since I jotted down those thoughts?

The Education Sector may give the Aged Care Sector some guidance and warning? Why? We work in both Sectors, which are similar in many respects and we will attempt in this article ‘flesh out’ issues from the Education Sector that may influence or have an impact on the Aged Care Sector.

The BER (Building Education Revolution) Implementation Taskforce Report was released to the Federal Government which as Peter Skinner (Qld President of the Australian Institute of Architects AIA) describes as: ‘an immense research task to evaluate the success of the processes of procuring more than 10,000 educational building projects by 22 separate client authorities across Australia.’ Mr Skinner went on to say in an AIA submission to the Queensland State Government:

Managing Architects
The findings of the Taskforce suggest that Catholic School systems and Independent School systems where school principals were actively engaged in the building procurement, and where architects were appointed to oversee the procurement of the building through design, documentation and contract administration phases were successful in delivering value for money. Smaller state School systems which adopted a similar approach also achieved good outcomes. The Institute of Architects is pleased to see such a clear and unequivocal support for the employment of architects as managers of the procurement process. It seems logical that users are likely to best served if they have been involved in discussing their needs with the building designer. Buildings are more likely to be well sited if there is a pre-existing Master Plan, or where the siting is discussed directly by the designer with future users. Building designers with prior experience with the school community and the nature of the local building industry are likely to choose locally economical construction methods. In all of these cases, registered architects re present the profession with the best educational training and accreditation credentials for the design and documentation of project-specific buildings.

Architects have a professional expertise in ensuring the building is built as designed, on budget and on time. Unlike all other potential managers of the project, architects have a direct interest in ensuring that the designed quality isnot sacrificed during the construction processes, and that the user’s needs are met. We argue that other potential project leaders that are motivated purely by budget and scheduling, are less likely to safeguard building quality, environmental performance and user needs.

This BER report should make compulsive reading to a number of our major aged care providers contemplating the design and construction of new aged care infrastructure, as it highlights what great value and outcomes were achieved when clients (Principals) worked directly with their Managing Architect in designing schools and having them procured using a select tender process. But don’t believe me, as I’m an architect with a conflict of interest in promoting such findings…read the Brad Orgill report or even just the Executive Summary prepared by theIndustry Analyst (not an Architect!)

A Flying Start for Queensland Children
was also recently announced by Anna Bligh with the introduction of year 7 into high school commencing in the year 2015. So how does this affect the aged care industry?

In my last article in the Autumn ACQWire magazine I mentioned the ‘window’ of good building prices may not be open for long. The introduction of year 7 will involve a lot of building work across the state to accommodate this major change and may put pressure back into the construction industry. In our role working with the Independent school sector we are already gearing up Year 7 Projects for funding approval early next year.

The Current Tender Market
We are continuing to see our projects coming in between 10-15% below our Quantity Surveyor estimates and budgets as Contractors slice margins to maintain volume and keep on valuable staff in the industry. When we put out Expressions of Interest for medium sized projects we receive between 30-40 submissions from contractors hoping to be on a tender list. It is still the best time to build for many years with great value on offer.

So how long will the ‘window’ stay open? I’m not sure, but nothing lasts forever! Traditional Select Tender Procurement is still offering the best value for money and as Brad Orgill has indicated, your Managing Architect is well placed to guide your organisation along the way to a successful, value for money outcome.

Read the full BER report:
bertaskforce.gov.au

Paul Trotter
Has been an architect for twenty-two years, majority of which has been spent working on aged care projects.

Read more about Paul Trotter:
fultontrotter.com.au/people/paul-trotter