After dramatic drops in property prices in Sydney and Melbourne’s top end market, new data indicates that they are now leading the way to recovery. This was demonstrated over the weekend which saw preliminary auction clearance rates, as published by CoreLogic, leap from the doldrums. While both cities took a nosedive last year and have been hovering around the 50 per cent mark for the past few months, this weekend saw Sydney’s clearance rate rise to 66.1 per cent and Melbourne’s to 64 per cent. RiskWise Property Research CEO, Doron Peleg said this highlighted a clear trend of improvement. “Cl... more

The winners of the 2019 Australian Interior Design Awards have been announced. On Friday 31 May, the 16th annual Australian Interior Design Awards were presented at a gala celebration in Melbourne, with 550 of Australia’s most esteemed interior design and architecture practitioners and professionals in attendance. This year's awards boasts a stellar line-up of the country’s best interior design projects, with 12 overall category winners selected from a shortlist of over 200 projects. The Premier Award for Australian Interior Design, considered the highest accolade of the awards program, was presente... more

An eye-catching crystalline building in an industrial area of Alice Springs has just taken out the Northern Territory’s top architecture honour at the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA)’s 2019 NT Architecture Awards on Saturday night. More than 100 guests attended the NT Architecture Awards at The Old Quarry, at the foot of the East MacDonnell Ranges, 10 kilometres from Alice Springs, in the annual celebration of NT design. As with all of the AIA’s state and territory Architecture Awards programs, the NT Architecture Awards aim to recognise and celebrate the outstanding projects and people whic... more

Pieces of Melbourne’s early history have been uncovered during archaeological investigations at the site of a new community hub being developed opposite the Queen Victoria Market. ​The archaeological investigations at the Munro site were undertaken in March and April, with the findings being released in late May. Lord Mayor Sally Capp detailed that the artefacts date back to the early years of European settlement of Melbourne. “These artefacts give us an idea of what life was like when Melbourne was a township. We’ve found bottles, plates and fragments of stone grinding wheels, which will be pre... more

The Federal Government has renewed its call for a focus on building safety, sustainability and effective design with the introduction of a dedicated Minister for Housing – the Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar – and the elevation into Cabinet of the Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure – Alan Tudge. The Federal Government has also created an Assistant Ministry for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services, under the leadership of Luke Howarth, in light of Australia’s affordable and social housing challenges. The Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) National Pre... more

Traditional accommodation buildings such as hotels and motels are considered Class 3 buildings for the purposes of applying the NCC, whereas residential apartment buildings are considered Class 2 buildings. This means that apartment buildings are subject to some different requirements, often less stringent than those for Class 3 buildings under the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DTS) Provisions of the NCC. However, short-term accommodation in apartment buildings has become more mainstream in the last few years since the introduction of online platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz. In response to some on-going concerns ra... more

Local Government Super has joined 50 entities globally, including 11 from Australia, in becoming signatories to the World Green Building Council's global Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment. The superannuation fund has pledged to achieve net zero operating carbon emissions across its portfolio by 2030, as well as advocating for all buildings to be net zero by 2050. GBCA Head of Market Transformation Jorge Chapa said signatory organisations were leading the way in ambitious action to reduce carbon emissions, showing outstanding leadership in their commitments to decarbonise their portfolios. “It is tr... more