• Looking for Staff Banner

August 31, 2012

Melbourne’s Challenge: Remain Most Liveable City

Filed under: Buildings,Civil — Tags: , — tom @ 5:03 am

melbourne most livable city

Melbourne has once again beaten out 140 major cities worldwide to earn the distinction of being named the world’s most liveable city.

For the second year running, the city of just over four million people – roughly one million of whom live in the city centre – has beaten out major contenders including Vancouver, Vienna and Helsinki to take the title according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

According to the EIU factors ranging from health care, education and infrastructure to culture and crime are judged in determining which city comes out on top.

Melbourne’s strong mix of stable economic status, rich modern culture and vital infrastructure has proven to be a winning formula, with only climate and petty crime cited as reasons the city is less-than-ideal. Melbourne’s overall score in the rankings was an amazing 97.5 per cent.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle says it is an honour for the city to be named most liveable, and vows to do everything he can to ensure it retains that status moving forward.

“Overall it is a remarkable testament to our remarkable city,” he says. “That doesn’t mean there are things we can’t improve.”

Being named most liveable is a double-edged sword of sorts, as seen in the UK and various other iconic cities. Success as a city can, in fact, lead to issues in those urban hubs.

melbourne most livable city

“The ‘big city buzz’ they enjoy can overstretch infrastructure and cause higher crime rates,” says the EIU. “New York, London, Paris and Tokyo are all prestigious hubs with a wealth of recreational activity, but all suffer from higher levels of crime, congestion and public transport problems than would be deemed comfortable.”

While this is certainly a risk, it hardly comes as a surprise for both government and industry forces in Melbourne.

The continued success of Melbourne as a liveable city will depend on the delivery and ongoing maintenance of its growth plans, including the Growth Corridor plan and six-suburb addition. With a massive population influx expected in the near future, ‘future proofing’ Melbourne and Victoria at large will need to take priority.

The architecture industry is in a prime position to ensure long-term sustainable growth and built investment for Melbourne, maintaining its high livability and allowing it its full marketing potential.

The industry’s next moves will be vital in achieving goals to preserve this ongoing high standard. With a strong industry which is only expected to continue growing to back future planning efforts, the prognosis is positive.

December 5, 2011

Melbourne inner-city brewery to get new life as luxury apartments comprising 349 flats

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , — tom @ 11:48 pm

A planning application has been lodged that proposes transforming one of Melbourne’s last standing breweries into a luxury apartment block.

Prahran-based developer Sma Projects Australia, has submitted plans to the Yarra City Council, which will see the distinctive brick Yorkshire Brewery building in Collingwood replaced by 349 flats and a corresponding number of car spaces.

The 4560-square-metre site sits near the busy intersection of Hoddle and Victoria streets, which also acts as the suburb border for Abbotsford, East Melbourne and Richmond.

In addition to apartments, the application proposes a business park and shops.

The brewery currently includes a kiln, boiler house, cellar buildings and stables, and Sma has applied to partially demolish some of these buildings.

By Margaret Ambrose on December 2, 2011

https://secure.projectory.com.au/category/resources-projects

September 15, 2011

Melbourne – Most Livable City

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — tom @ 5:25 am

Melbourne Most Livable City

For such a “new” country, Australia has been ranked amongst the worlds best. Strength as an economic power was proven during the Global Financial Crisis, with many on this isolated island wondering at the immensity of the economic ruin faced by major powers still to this day.

While the reasoning behind this country’s safe passage through such a catastrophic global event has been debated, with credit placed in both valid and invalid locations, there can be no questioning the importance of our strong industry involvement in keeping the economy afloat.

Adding to solid economic growth, strongly enabled by the West’s major mining boom, four Australian cities have been ranked top ten in this years Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) global liveability report. Topping the list, and breaking the eight-year reign of Vancouver, Canada is Melbourne, with Sydney following in sixth place, and Perth and Adelaide tied at eighth.

The report uses a number of criteria in order to differentiate between the 140 vying countries.

“The Liveability Ranking and Overview assesses living conditions in 140 cities around the world. A rating of relative comfort for 30 indicators is assigned across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure. The survey gives an overall rating of 0-100, where 1 is intolerable and 100 is ideal,” the EIU report.

Melbourne Most Livable City

This is an incredible promotion of Australia, its lifestyle and economy, with EIU representatives citing low density and low crime rates as the catalyst for this year’s winners.

While critics have slammed the report as being biased and discredited, overwhelmingly support has been received by the winning city, especially when considering its place in the current global climate.

The reality of the situation is that Europe’s economic melting pot has impacted heavily on this years rating system, pushing Australia up in the liveability stakes.

This livability comes at a price.

Although gauged as the world’s most liveable cities, further reportage shows a direct correlation between standard of living and the cost of living, with Sydney being ranked as the 7th most expensive city in the world.  Melbourne and Sydney both have some of the highest global median house prices, these numbers dominating critics’ reports.

There was further discussion about Melbourne’s notoriously criticised public transport infrastructure, but it appears in comparison to the rest of the world, the Victorian city is the place to be.

Dropping to the bottom of the list was Bangladesh’s Dhaka and Harare Zimbabwe due to high crime rates and low living standards.

Whether credible or otherwise, this global honour bestowed upon Melbourne, as well as Australia as a whole, is at the very least, a fantastic promotion of an industry that is the pillar of this country.

Melbourne Most Livable City

Melbourne Wins Big at Master Builders Awards

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — tom @ 4:49 am

AAMI Park Melbourne

Melbourne has yet again proven its industry excellence at the 2011 Master Builders Excellence in Construction Awards. While many of the night’s big winners were obvious favourites, lesser known projects stole the show, proving that the city’s industry only has further to grow.

The awards are judged by a range of top industry associates including members from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Engineers Australia and the Master Builders Association. The judging is varied and project winners are awarded in different categories according to their strongest features.

Not surprisingly, the overall winners were Grocon for their AAMI Park development scoring the top Master Builder of the Year award. The highly acclaimed 30,000 seat sporting stadium was designed by Cox Architecture and completed in 2010. While the project is host to a barrage of design and construction intricacies, it is the lightweight bio-frame roof that separates it from traditional stadiums worldwide.

Another big winner included McCorkell Constructions who took home the title of Excellence in Construction of Commercial Buildings $10 million to $12.5 million for their work on the State Library of Victoria’s ’Wheeler Centre’ development, designed by peckvonhartel and architects Ancher/Mortlock/Wooley the development was officially opened in 2010. The southern wing of the city library was completely redeveloped into the Wheeler Centre as part of Melbourne’s “City of Literature” initiative, the construction team using great skill and expertise in order to blend the addition with the original historical building.

Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication at Monash University Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication Lab

Tertiary and research institutions were a common theme as winners on the night included: the Melbourne Brain Centre and the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication at Monash University Science Research Park Clayton, both constructed by Cockram Construction Limited; the Monash School of Rural Health by Joss Constructions; and the Swinburne University ATC Hawthorn, constructed by Kane Constructions, all taking home the top wins in their respective categories.

The latter project by Kane Constructions took home the prize for Excellence in Construction of Commercial Buildings $30 million to $80 million, with their $75 million research and learning centre development. In association with H20 Architects and Waterman AHW Consultants, the construction team were able a complete the world class facility that boasts state of the art interiors and an iconic white circular patterned façade. Due to this striking design the project and construction team were also the proud winners of the Australian Institute of Architecture’s award for Public Architecture.

Additional winners included Upgrade Commercial Interiors for the Myer Melbourne Redevelopment, FDC Construction & Fitout for their OPSM Eye Hub fitout and of course Grocon’s carbon-neutral Pixel building, which unsurprisingly took home the award for Best Sustainable Energy Project.

The 2011 Master Builders Excellence in Construction Awards has set a benchmark that can only offer to promote positive growth and excellence on an industry level. Next year’s competing projects will have to reach an incredibly high standard in order to wow the judges of this year’s competition.

October 18, 2010

Consulting Engineers “Breaking the MOLD”

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — tom @ 2:41 am

We had an interesting meeting today with a valued client. The meeting had no agenda however was extremely useful in gaining an appreciation of how consulting engineering in Melbourne or globally for that matter, has evolved over recent years. Gone are the days of mission brown offices filled with A0 sized drawing boards, large stick files, and 486 CAD machines with Pen Ink Plotters. I remember the year Kevin Winward started Winward Structures in the late 90′s. The philosophy was to provide a quality of work, serviced by high calibre staff. The office which they soon moved into, was fitted out more like an art gallery or graphic design studio and this seemed to set the path for most consulting engineers in the next decade.

Our meeting with a Global Multi Discipline Consultant was more about the leadership of a consulting engineering business and the areas of difference. Whilst listening and bouncing thoughts back and forth we were very impressed with the philosophy and direction they are taking their firm forward and how to lead staff for the greater of the company, industry and more importantly the individuals career development. Also of note was the shift from simply providing core business engineering solutions to presenting value driven outcomes on the basis of where the clients perceived value stands. Whilst in discussion we identified the similarities with this leadership philosophy and the business model here at Aptus Personnel. This may be a topic for another blog at a later stage however it was interesting and valuable for me to note this.

It would seem, as was the case when Winward Structures moved out of the mission brown era, gone are the days now of consulting engineering leaders wanting to sit in a private office. The open plan office environment is thriving and providing many benefits to management and team members.  This provides to the staff, a greater understanding of what the leader does, increasing a level of respect for their manager.

What changes have you seen your organisation make and have these been positive?

If you would like to hear more about Aptus Personnel’s business model and internal opportunities we provide feel free to call me on +61 450 009 906 or email me on tom@aptuspersonnel.com.au

Please keep an eye on our blog space for more updates on industry movements and related topics.

October 13, 2010

Welcome David Carty

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — tom @ 4:19 am

Aptus Personnel are happy to announce the appointment of David Carty, as Recruitment Consultant in our Melbourne office. David will be focusing on building services engineering, Australia wide and will assist with our global appointments. The directors at Aptus Personnel would like to welcome David to our team and thank him for giving us the opportunity to work with him.

David has many years consulting experience working across Banking and Finance, and more recently the engineering sector. His prior successes have been a direct result of his long term commitment to his clients. David is focused on long term results as he aspires to be an industry leader in his area of speciality. Aptus decided to employ David as we feel his ethics, ethos and principals are very much aligned with ours and those of our key clients.

We have had a relationship with David for approximately 7 years and although his appointment with Aptus Personnel is recent, we feel he has been an associate of ours for many years. All this considered we look forward to David being an integral part of our business growth, much to the benefit of our clients and people we work with.

If you would like to speak with David about his recent move and how he intends on delivering career advice and recruitment solutions to the people and organisations of building services engineering.
David can be reached on david@aptuspersonnel.com.au or +61 (0) 420 434 345.