IT would be easy to view the state government’s policy for the built environment as just another superficial addition to the noise emissions of election campaigning.
The policy, launched last month under the banner ‘Better Places and Spaces’, complete with a visually interesting 14-page document, could easily be construed as an attempt to paper over the cracks of inaction, given it arrived in the final six weeks of the government’s four-year term in office.
Who could disagree with a policy - the first in Australia - that insists on the importance of good design in public buildings, not just in looks and aesthetics but also in areas such as function and economic value?
Extending an idea that seems obvious when it comes to major state buildings, however, starts to look more difficult when it attempts to embrace the multitude of government projects that dot the landscape of Western Australia.
That includes schools, hospitals, courthouses, police stations and administrative centres in metropolitan Perth and the regions.
At first glance, ‘Better Places and Spaces’ looks like the sort of idea destined to gather dust once the election is over. That seems more the case given it was spawned out of the Department of Finance - hardly the sort of place that would be expected to champion design.
But government architect Steve Woodland is confident the policy will leave a lasting legacy because, he said, the launch was not the start of the process. Instead, much of the thinking that has culminated in the policy has already been implemented.
“We have been developing a range of design standards, for instance in health, that are used in the process before commissioning the project,” Mr Woodland told WA Business News.
“That is where the real change takes place.
“Big or small, there is clarity of design standards.
“That is a new way of thinking about delivering public buildings at the front end.
“It is a new dimension of thought and new range of considerations.”
Mr Woodland said developing these standards behind the policy had occupied much of his two two-year terms as government architect, and the team he has working with him.
“Rather than dump policy on the table, which I suspect we would have failed, we spent four years building up the mechanisms for enacting that policy,” he said
“The policy is just the icing on the cake.”
Mr Woodland said the idea was to ensure that no key element was overlooked at the start of the process of designing a state-owned building. Similarly, a single issue - such as cost or spectacular architecture -ought not be the only factor in driving the process.
Underlying the policy, he said, was a quality management system that ensured principles were assessed across the range of criteria, not a “beauty parade” that could often occur in the process of choosing building designs.
“It is more rigorous in terms of function and sustainability; it is about meeting the building’s long term needs,” Mr Woodland said.
Part of the process was recognising there was a human dimension in design that had to allow for the fact that buildings were used in vastly different ways, depending on their purpose.
“Schools have different roles than courts,” he said.
Mr Woodland said good design was not about adding to the cost of the building. In fact, getting design right across a range of parameters could ensure that state facilities lasted longer and operated more efficiently at a number of levels, saving money in the longer term.
“Every dollar into the capital cost of a building you have at least nine-to-10-fold outright cost over the term of its life,” he said.
“If you get that first dollar wrong and do something short-sighted you can turn that into 12-15 (times the original cost).
“If you get it right, especially in the energy arena, you can make it go the other way.”
In addition, in an age of challenges with respect to retaining employees, the government architect said there also was a human capital component in making buildings work for the employees who had to use them after the construction force had left.
“That is one of WA’s key challenges; attracting and retaining the sort of people we need for our future,” Mr Woodland said.
“If we are not careful, the future could be fragile.”
Mr Woodland added that the policy and work behind it were unlikely to be a shock.
“The mood in the city is that already,” he said with regard to views expressed by various business organisations and lobby groups, including the Committee for Perth.
“I think the policy is articulating sentiments that I find people are already expressing.”
Mr Woodland, who still works at commercial architects Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland, said he planned to step down from his part-time role as government architect in May when his second two-year term came to an end.
