FMA Australia - Victorian Branch News - June 2008

The Victorian Arts Centre by night

It’s been a cultural month for the FMA Australia Victorian Branch beginning with a site visit to the Victorian Arts Centre on the morning of April 30. Anyone who attended the ideaction conference on the Gold Coast will now know that I have a passion for opera, so an insight into the back-of-house operations at the Victorian Arts Centre was of particular interest to me. I had hoped to get a look at the costume and changing rooms, but the site visit clearly wasn’t about me so, in this instance, I had to be content with learning purely about the mechanics of the building. The performance spaces and state-of-the-art technology were truly amazing. One has to marvel at the complexity and the beauty of it all - it’s amazing how much infrastructure we simply take for granted.

Hamer Hall, Victorian Arts Centre

Campbell Pfieffer, Executive, Facilities and Asset Management, The Arts Centre

I’d like to thank Campbell Pfieffer and his team from the Arts Centre for taking the time to share this experience with us and for imparting their impressive body of knowledge. Campbell has managed the facilities at the Victorian Art Centre since 2003 which includes responsibilities for the Theatres building, Hamer Hall and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Following the site visit, we were escorted to the ANZ Pavilion Room where a sumptuous luncheon awaited us. Our cultural experience continued as our guest speaker, Jacques de Vos Malan, CEO of the new Melbourne Recital Centre, amazed us with the story behind this magnificent new precinct. Jacques’ presentation was both amusing (he pointed out a few unfortunate pronunciations he has heard of Recital) and fascinating.

Designed as a lively hub, the Melbourne Recital Centre provides the vision, facilities and resources to fill the gap in Melbourne’s cultural infrastructure. The building’s expansive glass façade is like a welcoming beacon that creates a sense of excitement and expectation.

Artist’s impression of the new Melbourne Recital Centre

The Centre is comprised of four levels of public spaces with the 1,001 seat Elisabeth Murdoch Hall being its main centre-piece. The classic shoe-box shaped hall is an uniquely Australian space reflecting the energy, innovation and creative spirit of Melbourne. The Hall’s perfect fusion of acoustic and architectural design with state-of-the art technology is as grand as it is intimate, generating its own special sound and atmosphere. It has been designed specifically for the performance and recording of chamber music, jazz, new music, chamber opera, world music and popular song.

I’d like to extend a special thanks to Bryon Price, Chairman of Building Services SIG, who organised both the site visit and our speaker. I believe there will be a site visit to the new Melbourne Recital Centre later in the year.

Thank you also to our sponsor for the event, GJK Facility Services. We’re thrilled to inform you that GJK won National Sponsor of the Year at ideaction for the second year running. The FMA Australia Victorian Branch are most grateful for their continued and loyal support.

FMA Australia Vic Branch Committee Member Profile: Jennifer Horvath

Jennifer is the National Facilities Manager for the Investment Property Portfolio, Victoria, at Knight Frank. She also manages the Sponsorship portfolio on the FMA Vic Branch committee and has been contributing her time and effort to the committee for many years.

Jennifer joined Knight Frank in 2006 to manage the capital works, risk management and Envrionmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) from a national perspective for the Industry Superannuation Property Trust account. Prior to this Jennifer enjoyed a well rounded career, gaining experience in business development strategy where she worked to generate solutions for various organisational and client needs. In this capacity, Jennifer successfully developed, managed and motivated a state service team to exceed the business and organisational objectives of her clients.

Jennifer has enjoyed identifying and managing major works which involved working closely with internal and external stakeholders, consultants and contractors, to ensure that works were completed efficiently in a timley manner with the least disruption to business operations. Her skills in reporting, accounting and undertaking special projects have contributed to maximising organisational objectives.

The FMA Australia Victorian Branch is fortunate to have such a dedicated member on our committee and we thank Jen for all her input over the years, and look forward to more over the coming years.

FMA Australia Victorian Branch awarded Branch of the Year

From left to right: David Duncan (CEO, FMA Australia) with FMA Australia Vic Branch committee members George Stamas (Vice Chair), Jennifer Horvath, Martin Leitch, Mike Rowlands, Kerry Lodge, Laurie Reeves, Lou la Delfa, Trish Ferrier, Kristiana Greenwood (Chair) and Andrew McEwan (National Chairman, FMA Australia). Missing: Brent Boyd, Louise Rowe and Greg Burnham.

It was with much exhilaration that the FMA Australia Victorian Branch committee received the National Branch of Year award at the ideaction Gala Dinner. We were both surprised and thrilled, knowing how well our fellow committees across Australia had also done over the past 12 months. I know it was a close result this year and I would like to personally congratulate all the other branches for their outstanding achievements this past year. At the end of the day we are all on the same team, working towards the same goals, and I know that our combined work has jointly contributed to the continued success of FMA Australia.

Notable stats cited for our win included the increase in membership and attendance numbers at our branch functions – with the latter increasing by 44% over the past year. So many thanks to you, our members and guests, for your attendance at and feedback on our events which has led to this acknowledgement of your FMA Australia Victorian Branch.

FMA Australia would like to also congratulate Kristiana Greenwood for winning the FMA Australia Recognition Award for the Victorian Branch member of the year. Kristiana continually contributes an outstanding level of commitment and dedication to the Victorian Branch, demonstrating excellent leadership and guidance to fellow committee members and industry participants. She is pivotal to the success of the Victorian Branch events which remain key networking and professional development occasions for Facility Managers across the state.

Caption: Kristiana receives her Award as Victorian Branch Member of the Year.

Upcoming Events:

11 July – FMA Australia Vic Branch lunch and panel session
Topic: “The Future of FM”
Moderator: Steve Taylor - Tungsten
Panel: Carolyn Parker - Kador; Sue Pridmore – Myer; Bryon Price – AG Coombs; Mark Quinn – Rider Levett Bucknall

29 August – FMA Australia Vic Branch lunch
Topic: TBC
Speaker: Mark Brennan, Small Business Commissioner

19 September – FMA Australia Vic Branch lunch
Topic: “The changing face of the VRC and the challenges of running such a major event”
Speaker: Stephen Silk, GM of Strategic Marketing for the VRC

17 October – FMA Australia Vic Branch lunch
Topic: “The initiatives and challenges of major renovations such as the new Myer building”
Speaker: Craig Gathercole, Construction Manager for Probuild

21 November – FMA Australia Vic Branch lunch
Topic: TBC
Speaker: Vito Chiodo, Telstra

19 December – FMA Australia Vic Branch Christmas lunch
Details: TBA

We are very much looking forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.

Kristiana Greenwood
Chair, FMA Australia Victorian Branch

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