RAA 2025 Annual President’s Report

RAA president Tim Lee at the March 2025 Canberra event, photo by Andrew Sikorski

REPORT DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE ASSOCIATION

Tim Lee, RAA President

October 2025

Welcome to the Annual General Meeting of the Regional Architecture Association for 2025.

I would like to welcome new committee members, ordinary members and technical members who have joined us this year. Welcome to RAA, I hope you enjoy being a part of our community.

Thank you also to everyone attending the AGM for your time and valuable input.

2024/2025 has been an exceptional year of growth in both membership and influence of our Association. We are working with a range of like-minded organisations to further awareness of the value of architecture and design in the regions. We are working to maintain our presence throughout the profession, from education providers to legislative authorities.

We have continued to strengthen our relationships with professional associations supporting Architects across Australia including Parlour, the Association of Consulting Architects, ArchiTeam, GANSW and the ARB, with the establishment of Memoranda of Understanding, a sharing of resources and events.

We have contributed to submissions around the proposed Building Bill and we are currently working to partner with building industry associations including the MBA, HIA and the Concrete Institute of Australia to add our voice to the push for free access to essential Australian Standards for the industry.

We have continued to work towards an architectural advisory service for local councils and despite recent setbacks we are continuing our efforts to establish this program.

2022/ 2023 was a period of consolidation for RAA; we established our base and worked hard to refine delivery of services to our members. That work has paid off in 24/25 and continues into the future.

Our membership has grown to 232 individuals with representation across almost all Australian states and territories (only SA missing). Our committee and our inspiring events program reflect this growth.

Context in Canberra and Vital in Dungog proved to be extremely successful and allowed expansion into the nation’s Capital as well as furthering our connections within regional NSW.

Mpartwe provided an incredible expansion of our event format creating an immersive 3-day experience in and around Alice springs. The ambition and organisation required to deliver an event of this scale is an absolute credit to the creative directors, members of the committee and our events coordinator Rhiannon who all collaborated to make this event a reality. It was an unforgettable experience for everyone who was fortunate enough to attend.

This year we are trialing the addition of local ‘Community Conversation’ events to our event program. These will be focused on a single topic with the first is being held on November the 27th in Bomaderry, centring around government procurement practice for public and council architectural projects. We thank Founding Technical Member AWS for supporting this inaugural event.

Our regular lunchtime program of online events managed by Sarah, Brent and Rhiannon continues to deliver quality presentations covering the breadth of the industry and beyond and providing our members with the opportunity to make contact with leaders in their fields as well as each other. The collegiate atmosphere of these events makes them a warm and inclusive environment in which members and non-members alike can soak up topics as diverse as legal issues for contract administration through to building in the Top End.

Our social media accounts provide regular updates of the Association’s events, activities and programs, and our WhatsApp forum continues to provide a valuable place for information exchange and connection for members.

We have also welcomed a number of new technical members to RAA this year, signaling the expansion of the depth and breadth of technical expertise available to our members. We now have 17 incredible companies in our community and we are very grateful for their support: ArcPanel, Weathertex, AWS, Stormtech, EvoHeat, Artedomus, Savage Design, Danpal, Stratco Architectural Solutions, Kennedy’s Timber, Natural Brick, Stone Style, Polyflor, Lysaght, Murobond, Tait and No. 1 Roofing & Building Supplies.

This year marks a truly significant first for the Association with the launch of the RAA journal, Field. Under the guidance of editor Peter Salhani, art director Marcus Piper and the editorial committee the first issue is currently being created and will be published by the end of the year. Architect & Affiliate and technical members will receive an inaugural copy as part of their membership, with purchase options being set up for others and should additional copies be required. We intend for Field to be an annual celebration in print of the extraordinary diversity of conversations held within the RAA community.

This year has also seen the extended employment of our Operations and Events Manager Rhiannon Slatter. As our sole employee Rhiannon has established herself as an invaluable asset helping to organise the committee, manage the day to day running of the Association and help initiate and coordinate online and face to face events. Rhiannon continues to be a wonderful addition to our community, and I would like thank her for her dedication and ongoing work.

Emily Knight has handled committee event liaison for the past couple of years and has worked closely with Rhiannon to resolve the many and sometimes daunting tasks associated with the delivery of our events, including budgets, creative director agreements and the very many logistical challenges. She has gone above and beyond to make sure our events run smoothly and are financially viable, so thank you Em.

This year has seen our committee evolve to welcome new members Edward Rosier (NSW), Mark Sanders (Vic) and Peter Salhani (NSW) and say farewell to two of the five remaining founding committee members who have stepped down after many years of dedication. I would like to formally recognise their enormous contribution:

Marcus Piper’s work in the ‘look’ of our organization has been critical to our success, in addition to his creative input into general strategy, events and growth, including being the instigator of the RAA journal. He continues to be an integral and valuable member of RAA with his current role as art director of Field. We are enormously grateful for your continued contribution Marcus.

Brent Dunn has been, and I hope will remain, one of the Association’s strongest advocates. His work in establishing the vision and direction of the Association has been fundamental.

Brent has been a voice of calm and reason, providing counsel and direction as well as furthering the overall governance of the organisation. He will be hugely missed on the committee (interestingly auto correct changes this to ‘he will miss the committee’) but we will not let him go far.

Lastly thank you to the remaining committee members and in particular our Executive: Our wonderful VP Kat Hendel; our amazing secretary Sarah Aldridge; and the awesome Renee McGuinn whose financial management has been exemplary.

I am extremely proud to be the President of a member-based organisation that has established a position as the peak voice for regional architectural practice and continues to prove there is an astounding resource of dedicated professionals working to better our regional lives.

Here's to another amazing and productive year.