Welcome

 NATIONAL PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

Welcome all, my name is Scott Reid and I was honored to be elected as the Australian Institute of Buildings 37th National President in October 2022. I am looking forward to working with our Chapters, Members and broader industry to advance our collective efforts and advocacy for much needed reform to our Industry.

It is also timely to express, on behalf of our members, the leadership and guidance of my predecessor, John Gaskin AM FAIB, who was instrumental in advancing the purpose of the Australian Institute of Building as the Industry’s arbiter of knowledge and learning.

2022 was most rewarding after almost three years of COVID restrictions, where the Australian Institute of Building held our prestigious Professional Excellence Building in Awards, live, in all States with record attendances.

It was indeed encouraging to welcome a number of new entrants into our Awards program that recognise building excellence across the key categories of Commercial Construction, Residential Construction, Infrastructure, Sustainability, Adaptive use and Project Management.

All award entrants must be commended, as the industry is still yet to fully recover from the shortage of labor and materials and is testament to the courage, determination and resilience of our builders.

The Australian Institute of Buildings vision is to be seen as a progressive, inclusive organization and one that celebrates diversity and building excellence. In order to demonstrate our commitment to a more equitable industry, the Australian Institute of Building conceived Girls In Construction™ and recently conducted our inaugural “Build-A-Shed” program in Victoria. This comprised a five-day event for girls in years 9 and 10 from Sacred Heart and Matthew Flinders Girls Schools which was held at Deakin University’s Waterfront campus in Geelong where these young ladies built the shed.

The Hampton style relocatable shed which affectionately became named Florence was donated to a wonderful local charity, The Cottage By The Sea. This was made possible due to the support of Deakin University, The Gordon, teachers, parents and students of the schools, the Victorian Chapter of the AIB and the generosity of our sponsors all of whom are leading suppliers and service providers to our Industry.

A continued focus of the Institute is the nurturing of our students from our various States Universities to promote guidance and mentoring to the next generation of leaders of our Industry. We will continue on our path of inclusion and with the support of our members, current and new, in our Australian, Hong Kong and Overseas Chapters, and look forward with a great deal of optimism as construction is pivotal to our social and economic recovery.

Kind regards,  

Scott Reid FAIB.