As Building Designers Australia (BDA) platinum partner, and principal sponsor of the BDA Annual National Conference and Design Awards, James Hardie will be centre stage at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney’s Darling Harbour on April 19-21.

Our BDA partnership cements the James Hardie brand as a top-of-the-mind supplier to an industry that is responsible for product specification to more than 85 per cent of the nation’s residential construction projects and a rapidly growing segment of innovative commercial and industrial developments across the country.

Delegates to the peak industry body’s 2012 national conference will surf a wave of fast, informative, action-packed design charette sessions chaired by charismatic moderator Tone Wheeler, supplemented by keynote presentations from some of the country’s foremost architectural minds, including the mastermind behind the iconic conference venue, Philip Cox.

The conference theme, Design for the Times … Past, Present and Future, will materialise as two parallel initiatives, and delegates and sponsors will encounter many twists. The format revolves around lecture sessions providing delegates with conceptual design insight and focusing on the thought processes behind the case studies presented. Following each of these talks will be a unique charette environment in which delegates will focus their innate design skills on a conceptual design brief – with the help of some newly-acquired insight.

The conference will feature many respected industry experts including Brett Blacklow. Brett is recognised as one of Australia’s leading authorities on affordable housing, sustainable building techniques, low toxic housing and rapid construction technologies. In 2009 he saw the release of the “Smarter Small Home” an affordable and sustainable small lot home which clearly demonstrated Brett’s extensive construction knowledge and design ability. He will draw on his experience to present on Construction Technology for Adaptive Reuse. Brett aims to bring to designers an understanding of the process and materials behind the emerging rapid construction technologies that can deliver enormous benefits to you and your clients.  Brett will present an overview of the concepts and applications that enable him to consistently build houses in mere weeks.  

The conference is open to all professional designers. If you are interested in attending please look up www.bdaconference.com.au.