Conference Speaker profiles

Gavin was elected to the Victorian State Parliament as the Member for Melbourne Province in September 1999 and re-elected at the November 2002 State election.

In October 1999, Gavin became Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council and was Cabinet Secretary in the first Bracks Government.

Following the November 2002 election, Gavin became the Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. After the November 2006 election, Gavin became Minister for Community Services and Aboriginal Affairs.

Following a recent Ministerial reshuffle, Gavin is now the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change and the Minister for Innovation. He continues to hold the position of Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.

Gavin was born in Melbourne in April 1957. He moved with his family to country Victoria when he was in primary school and returned to Melbourne to study at University. He has a Bachelor of Arts (1978 – Monash University) and a Bachelor of Social Work (1981- Melbourne University). Gavin has one son – Huw.

Gavin had a wide and varied work history before entering the Victorian Parliament, including experience as a factory worker, actuarial clerk, actor, social worker and policy analyst.

Gavin’s interests include spending time with his son, Huw; photography; films; innovation and design; supporting his football team, the Bombers; and making – and then eating desserts.

Greg is Senior Science Leader at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems in Melbourne. His expertise and research interests include sustainable built environments, climate mitigation and adaptation, and transitions to urban sustainability.

Greg was co-chair of the 2008 World Sustainable Building Conference (SB08 Melbourne). Considered as one of the world’s leading experts in the performance approach in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC), he was Program Director of the Performance Based Building networks in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, and has led several international activities on this topic since 1998. Greg is currently Chairman of the Governing Committee of the Australian Life Cycle Inventory Database Initiative (AusLCI) and leads the Australian Zero Emissions Housing (AusZEH) project. He has received a number of prestigious international awards – including the 2003 James Croes Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) – and serves as an expert consultant to industry, government and UNEP. Greg has/had appointments to esteemed international scientific/technical committees and overseas research institutions, has an extensive scientific publications record and is often invited to speak on innovation and sustainability in Australia and internationally.

Graham Crist lectures in design and technology in the school of architecture and design at RMIT University, with a particular interest in sustainability and it’s relation to design. He is a director of Antarctica Group a Melbourne based practice of architects and designers. He is currently carrying out a phD by design project.

Descended from Dutch flower growers, the installation artist and florist Joost Bakker has demonstrated his passion for found objects and reuse of materials in Melbourne for 16 years. The artist won instant fame with his temporary exhibition pavilion The Greenhouse at the Melbourne’s Federation Square in 2008, which was conceived as a possible model for the sustainable house of the future.

Biography: Andrew is the Program Director for Life Cycle Assessment at the Centre for Design at RMIT. He has completed a Bachelor of Economics (Monash University), Bachelor of Engineering – Mechanical (Monash University) and a Masters of Engineering – Sustainable Energy (RMIT). His professional background includes experience in automotive engineering in the local car industry, corporate finance in New York and LCA consulting to both industry and government. As Program Director he coordinates a team of LCA professionals undertaking a wide range of LCA teaching and consulting activities, including professional and university level course delivery.

Since completing his PhD in Physical Chemistry he has worked as an Industrial Scientist with over twenty years experience with material, process and product related issues for a variety of industries. Robert has considerable knowledge of analytical methods, test methods and performance criteria for a wide range of materials and chemicals.

He recently participated in the GBCA Expert Reference Panel for Third Party Certification of Materials.

As Senior Consultant for CETEC he oversees the delivery of sustainability services. This includes the testing of materials for their chemical emissions and is in frequent dialogue with manufacturers and suppliers in Australia and Internationally. He also undertakes benchmarking of the indoor environment to assess the impact upon occupant health, well-being and productivity.

Jayan Parry is the Assistant Director of the Commercial Building Energy Efficiency team at the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA). Jayan is responsible for the development of the new proposed national scheme for the mandatory disclosure of commercial building energy efficiency.

Prior to his appointment at DEWHA, he was in charge of granting intellectual property rights to mechanical inventions at Intellectual Property Australia.

Jayan holds a Master of Engineering (Manufacturing) from RMIT.

Adjunct Professor Alan Pears AM has worked in the sustainable energy and environment fields since the 1970s. He has worked across household, commercial, industrial and transport sectors. His roles have included policy and strategic analysis, program development and implementation, public education and training, and specific projects including advising on green buildings and design of green appliances.

Alan teaches part-time at RMIT University, is Associate Director of RMIT’s Centre for Design, and is a Director of consulting firm Sustainable Solutions Pty Ltd. He is involved in a number of advisory Boards, including EcoBuy, the Voluntary Carbon markets Association, the Victorian Government’s Plumbing Industry Advisory Council and Swinburne National Centre for Sustainability.

Stuart Miller is Special Counsel within Mason Sier Turnbull's Commercial Property and Dispute Resolution & Litigation Divisions.

His experience in construction, engineering and infrastructure law encompasses the commercial, industrial, infrastructure, retail and domestic (including multi-residential) sectors.

He has advised and acted for a broad range industry players ranging from publicly listed companies; substantial private companies; head contractors; subcontractors; suppliers; developers and proprietors; large and small businesses; statutory authorities and local government; aged care facilities; industry institutions and trade associations; insurers; financial institutions; resources and infrastructure utilities; engineers, building surveyors, architects and consultants.

Stuart has spoken and published widely on industry topics including for The University of Technology (Sydney) Centre for Local Government; the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (Victorian and New South Wales Chapters); the Australian Institute of Environmental Health (New South Wales Chapter); the Housing Industry Association Limited (Victoria); the Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association of Australia (Victorian Division) and Knowles Australia / Hill International Construction Contract Consultants (Melbourne Office).

He has published material in the Australian Construction Law Newsletter, Master Builder, Building Practitioners Society News and the Monash University Law Review.

Stuart is a past Committee Member with the Australian Institute of Building (Victorian Chapter) and is a member of the Building Disputes Practitioners Society Victoria.

Hal is a Technical Manager in the Green Star Rating Tool Development team at the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). He is responsible for the operation and evolution of Green Star Materials Category credits. This includes several credit revision projects that are developing guidance on environmental best practices applicable to a range of building materials industries. One of the things he enjoys most about working for the GBCA are the number of opportunities for sustainability-focused engagement with a wide range of materials industries and related stakeholder groups. Hal joined the GBCA in May 2007 following several years as National Manager of Ecospecifier where his interests in environmental consulting to the Australian Building Materials Industry begin to take shape. Originally from North Carolina, USA, he brings to the GBCA a unique understanding of diverse areas within the global sustainability movement. He has worked at the grass roots level, building sustainable communities in developing countries and facilitated community-based environmental education and activism initiatives in the US.

Shlomi provides the Green Star Tool Development Team with research and development support for all Green Star Materials credits. He is involved with several credit revision projects that are developing guidance on environmental best practices applicable to a range of building materials industries, as well as the day to day operations of the Materials Category. Shlomi joined the GBCA in March 2008 following several years as an auditor with Good Environmental Choice Australia where he developed interests and expertise with the adaption of sustainability measures across various building materials industries. Shlomi completed a natural resource management degree at the ANU with focuses in forestry and agricultural land management. He resides in regional NSW near Canberra where he manages a rural property and a small herd of cattle and is the president of the local Landcare group.

Chris Taylor graduated with his Bachelor of Architecture with honours in 1997. He has worked in architectural practice and has developed a strong research interest in the use of green building materials, in particular timber. Chris has been involved in a number of projects assisting the project teams in procuring timber that meets specified environmental and social requirements. These include the procurement of the veneer panels used in the new Melbourne Convention Centre and the timber decking used in the St Kilda foreshore project. Chris has contributed to the Green Building Council of Australia’s Timber Expert Review as a panel member in the development of its assessment criteria for forest certification, and contributed in the establishment the FSC Controlled Wood Risk Assessment Team. He is currently finalizing his PhD on forest certification in Australia at RMIT University.

Born in Wiesweiler, Germany, 05-22-1964

1984-1998 study of architecture at the Cologne University of Applied Science, at the Städelschule (Academy of Art), Frankfurt am Main and at the University of Stuttgart with two examinations

1991, informative trip to Uruguay and Argentina; seminar about reinforced brick-shells at the University of the Republic Montevideo, Uruguay

1995, textiles design prize from the Techtextil-Symposium and Arbeitskreis textile Architektur for a pneumatically convertible airship hangar

1999, publication of an energyautark kinetic building structure through the Kinetic Design Group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

2006, publication of the book smart materials in architecture, interior architecture and design, obtainable in English and German; publisher is Birkhauser, Basel-Berlin-Boston

2007, collaboration with the Technical University of Darmstadt by two projects

Since 1992 guest lectures, e.g. at the Alanus University of Alfter (2006), at Material Xperience in Den Bosch / The Netherlands (2008); and articles, e.g. in Intelligente Architektur (2002), Wallpaper* (2002), Metropolis (2007), Engineering (2007) about experimental buildings and advanced materials

Since 1994 research and development of experimental buildings and advanced materials

Since 1998 own office for architecture and design in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany

Since several years, scientific work about experimental buildings and advanced materials to get the doctorate (prospectively finished at the end of 2009)

Joining Grocon in 2001 as the Victorian Design Manager, David had worked previously as the Design Manager for the National Museum of Australia and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. David also managed the Canberra architectural and interior design practice of Robert Peck Von Hartel Trethowan from 1996–2001.

David was the Design Manager for Melbourne’s BHP Billiton’s World Headquarters Tower and was then appointed Design Manager for the $470M MCG northern stand redevelopment.

Through 2005-2007 David was responsible for the design and documentation of the $135M AXA Centre project which was awarded a 5 Greenstar Design Rating. David was then made responsible for the design and documentation of the new headquarters of the $100M 5 Star Greenstar Fairfax building being constructed above Melbourne’s busiest live rail corridor.

David is currently the General Manager of the Carlton Brewery project heading the team responsible for the design development and delivery of this mixed use development worth approximately $1.2 billion.

David is also involved in the Common Ground project which adopts the New York precedents bringing together Yarra Community Housing, HomeGround and the State Office of Housing to provide an innovative solution for people suffering from long term homeless.

Damian leads Jackson Teece’s architecture and urban design teams. He has 20 years experience in architecture and has worked in Asia and Europe where he established relationships with Ken Yeang in Malaysia and Phillip Robert in Paris.

As a student, Damian graduated with the Design Medal, the top award from the Australian Institute of Architects for students, and, over his professional career, he has continued to win awards – most notably for his projects that excel in Environmentally Sustainable Design. His work has been published in numerous journals.

His projects include the design of new buildings for mixed-use and transit oriented developments, the adaptive re-use of heritage-listed buildings and master planning for Brownfield and Greenfield developments.

He uses his skills to assist the community and is experienced as a community consultant. Damian has also contributed to the Australian Institute of Architects and numerous other associations.

Warren is an Associate at Thinc Projects, specialising in management consulting and Sustainability advisory services to the property sector.

Warren combines an education background of engineering and sustainable development with over ten years commercial experience working with companies such as Lend Lease, AMP, Colonial First State Property and QIC in Australia, and Centros Miller and Hammerson in the UK.

In addition to the provision of project management services, Warren assists clients to identify appropriate Economic, Social and Environmental objectives for their projects and portfolios (from Green Star / NABERS ratings through to Corporate Social Responsibility targets), then develops and implements realistic Action Plans to achieve these.

Warren is a Chartered Professional Engineer, a Green Star Accredited Professional, and has been actively involved with the Green Building Council of Australia, the Australian Direct Property Investment Association and the Property Council of Australia.

Trained in both architecture and engineering, Michael's experience is in the design of energy efficient buildings. His particular areas of expertise are the integration of effective daylighting design, renewable energy systems, passive thermal design, natural ventilation strategies and low carbon building services solutions.

Other areas of professional interest are indoor environment quality, occupant thermal comfort and water reuse/conservation strategies.

Stefan is an Associate and Manager Sustainable Design with Spowers Architects in Melbourne. He holds Masters Degrees in both Architectural Design (Kassel, Germany) and Environmental Design of Buildings (Cardiff, UK). Stefan is a Green Star Faculty Member and Assessor for the Green Building Council of Australia and a frequent guest lecturer at Melbourne University.

Beyond his architectural design and project management work Stefan has led Spowers to the certification of ISO 14001: 2004, the leading international quality assurance system for environmental management and overarches the sustainability all of Spowers’ national and international projects.

Stefan has been involved in a number of leading sustainable design and construction projects including ‘Towards Zero’ a methodology towards zero net emissions buildings in the Australian Context which he presented at the World Sustainable Building Conference 2008.

Previously, Stefan worked in Switzerland, Germany and Greece, where he was also a project coordinator of several European Union ‘Research, Application and Demonstration’ projects (for Tombazis Architects, Athens).

Mark joined the Mirvac Group in February 2008 and is responsible for Mirvac Victoria’s strategic focus on sustainability together with the Rockbank joint venture and Argyle at Waterways projects. He is a registered architect and qualified urban planner, an honours graduate of the University of Melbourne and RMIT. He has presented to numerous national and international conferences and has previously held senior roles in the public and private sectors. Before joining Mirvac, Mark was General Manager - Environment and Design with the Melbourne Docklands Authority and VicUrban. He has over twenty years experience in property development and sustainable design and has received numerous awards including in 2004, the prestigious Australia Award for Urban Design for Melbourne Docklands.

Biography: Mark is managing director of award winning firm Third Ecology - a multi disciplinary architecture, construction management and sustainability advice and consulting business employing 10 people. Third Ecology's services and operations have sustainability at their core in terms of the projects they work on, and the way in which their operations are conducted.

Projects range from residential new homes and alterations/additions, to education and community facilities and more recently tourism based facilities have been added to the project list. Third Ecology follow most of their domestic projects through to construction to ensure that designs are executed to properly incorporate all sustainability criteria relevant to the project. Sustainability advice and consulting - from a compliance and non-compliance perspective.

Ron is currently Professor of Construction and Head of the School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT, Australia. Dr. Wakefield researches and teaches at RMIT, in the areas of process simulation and modelling, residential and commercial construction and uses of information technology in construction management.

Prior to joining RMIT, Dr. Wakefield was the William E. Jamerson Professor of Building Construction in the Department of Building Construction and the Associate Director for Building Technology Research at the Center for Housing Research, Virginia Tech. He coordinated the Center’s building technology research program and chaired the Technical Coordinating Committee under the US department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Building Technology Research and Support Indefinite Quantity Contract. Dr. Wakefield is a Principal Investigator for the Industrializing the Construction Site project (Phases I,II,III, IV,V, Stage V extension) and lead author of Industrializing the Residential Construction Site series of monographs prepared for the Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD. Dr. Wakefield is also Co-Principal Investigator for two National Science Foundation projects developing process connectors to enable rapid flexible interconnection of distributed processes.

Dr. Wakefield has over 18 years experience as an international researcher, consultant and engineer in building construction. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Dr. Wakefield taught at The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He was a visiting Fellow at City University of Hong Kong in 1995.

Dr. Robert Wimmer is chairman of the independent research association GrAT (Center for appropriate Technology) since 1996. The association is based at the Vienna University of Technology. The leading idea of this research group is to transform the ethical challenge of sustainable development into operational steps, and to initiate und realize examples of sustainable technology use. Dr. Robert Wimmer has built up this research group and coordinates national and international research and demonstration projects with an emphasis on:

• System Solutions for Sustainable Development
• Sustainable building
• Renewable Resources
• Product Service Systems
• Sustainable Product Development
• Assessment methods and application

On top of these activities he provides consultancy for companies and authorities. He is guest professor at NIT (Nagoya Institute for Technology, Japan) and gives lectures at University for applied Science in Salzburg and Wiener Neustadt (Austria), Technical University of Vienna (Austria) and Tohoku University (Japan).

Elena was borne and raised in Moscow, Russia, and was educated in the France and Italy before graduating in Design and Environmental Analysis from Cornell University in the US. After working with two design and consulting firms in Russia, Elena pursued a Masters is sustainable design from Cornell, where she investigated international evolution of green building rating systems.

Elena is Thinc Projects’ principal consultant in the field of Sustainability. She joined Thinc projects after over three years of work with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), where her roles included overseeing the Green Star assessment, technical support, research and review; industry and internal training; Green Star adaptation to New Zealand and South Africa; and contribution to the development of Green Star tools for retail, education, healthcare, residential and public buildings.

Elena has won a number of grants and published research articles in peer review and public journals. Elena maintains research activity in the field of sustainability, particularly as it relates to innovation, change leadership and rating tools.

David Sharp joined BPIC (Building Products Innovation Council) in 2008 after 23 years with BRANZ (Building Research Association of New Zealand).

The Building Products Innovation Council is the national body representing Australia’s building products associations.

In an historic move, BPIC has embarked on an ambitious scheme to establish a uniform method in tracing the life cycle of various building products as part of the AusLCI (Australian Life Cycle Inventory) project.

BPIC is leading a consortia of ALCAS and BRANZ in partnership with the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science & Research and with the support and participation of BPIC’s 10 major building material national representative associations.

David’s experience with BRANZ included building forensics, management of BRANZ Appraisals Group, and establishing BRANZ presence in Australia.

In 2006 David established BRANZ Sustainabilty Team, and was involved in the “Study into the Suitability of Sustainability Tools as Part of a National Implementation Model” for the Australian Building Codes Board.

Bohdan Dorniak completed his studies at the University of South Australia (formerly S.A.I.T.) in the Bachelor of Architecture in 1974, followed by a Graduate Diploma in Town Planning in 1979 and a Certificate in Permaculture in 2006.

Bohdan Dorniak was registered as an Architect in 1976, an Associate Member of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects 1975, and Fellow of the R.A.I.A. in 1985. Bohdan is a panel member of Archicentre.

Bohdan Dorniak has attended conferences, speaking in 1995 at the Aged Care Australia on the topic of "Culturally Appropriate Architecture for the Aged", and at the International Strawbale Conference on construction techniques in 2002 and at the Sydney “GreenTech” Expo in 2006 and 2007. Bohdan was invited to speak at the International Strawbale conference in 2006. Bohdan had spoken at various seminars on Sustainability for Archicentre. Bohdan is a founding member and currently the past president of the Australasian Strawbale Association (Ausbale).

Bohdan Dorniak has been involved in architectural education lecturing part-time from 1981 to 1989 and 1996 to 1998 at the University of South Australia (formally S.A.I.T), to both degree and diploma students in the areas of contract documentation, contracts, contract administration, planning principles, business practices, low energy design principles and environmental design issues.

Gary is currently the Marketing and Technical manager of the Australian Window Association; he has worked within the window and glass industry for the past 25 years. His roles have covered a wide range of areas in the industry. For the past 6 years he has been involved heavily in training for the window and glass industries, the focus of the training has been energy efficiency for window products and the positive impact the right window can have on the energy efficiency of a building. Gary has been sharing his knowledge of window performance with many industry bodies including the Housing Industry Association, Master Builders Association, Building Designers Association, Association of Building Sustainability Assessors and Australian Institute of Building Surveyors. He is involved in two key projects with the AWA, the Sustainable Window Alliance a project supported by the Australian Window Association, Australian Glass & Glazing Association and Sustainabilty Victoria is looking at a strategy to deliver more sustainable residential buildings through the use of energy-efficient windows and doors.

Gary is also currently actively participating in the Building Products Innovation Council (BPIC) three-year Australian Life Cycle Inventory Project (AusLCI). The initiative aims to develop publicly available life cycle inventory (LCI) data modules for commonly used, generic materials, products and processes of the building/construction industry.This information will support efforts to undertake product life cycle assessments.

Roger Crowley is National Manager, Product & Systems Development for Boral Plasterboard and facilitator of the Gypsum Board Manufacturers Australasia (GBMA), Sustainability Working Group. Having joined Boral in 1997, Roger leads a team of building industry professionals with the responsibility for the development and commercialisation of plasterboard building systems and related products. Key influences on the team’s activities are BCA performance criteria, particularly fire, acoustics, thermal performance, and sustainability.

Roger is a Civil Engineer who has worked in a variety of roles including design, construction, and consulting, before opting for a career in the building products industry.

Ross works with the brick industry to help prepare them for doing business in the new carbon-constrained economy. He focuses on issues relating to energy efficiency in the built environment and life cycle assessment, and has a strong interest how the homes and communities beyond the 2020 will operate.

Ross has a BA and Masters of Project Management. From 2005-2008 he worked with the NSW Business Chamber as their Sustainability Policy Adviser educating small and medium businesses of the implications of climate policy.

Ross has a pragmatic approach to climate change and sustainability, but fundamentally believes we need to change how we produce energy because current methods are inefficient and not in-line with 21st century aspirations of the Australian and global economy.

Sophi has worked with the PVC sector’s industry association, the Vinyl Council of Australia, since its establishment in June 1998. She has been its Chief Executive Officer since 2002. The objective of the Vinyl Council is to advance a sustainable PVC industry in Australia.

Sophi is an environmental scientist and has over 15 years experience in corporate, health and environmental affairs and sustainability reporting across a range of organisations and government bodies in Hong Kong and Australia. She holds positions in a number of industry bodies including the Global Vinyl Council, based in Brussels and the Plastics & Chemicals Industries Association in Australia. Sophi has led the Australian vinyl industry’s product stewardship initiative since its launch and is also involved in raising understanding of and standards in health, safety and the environment across the industry in the Asia-Pacific region.