September/October 2018 Newsletter

CGC Newsletter Sept/Oct 2018

Welcome to a bumper edition of the CGC newsletter, covering September and October. It’s been a very busy couple of months here at CGC HQ, with multiple birthdays, end of quarter events and other festivities. In this issue we will hear from Christina about the architecture market – always a good indicator of what’s to come across the rest of the built environment - and Danyelle will have all the news from the social calendar. Keep an eye out for the Axe throwing !

Architecture Industry Update with Christina Ryan

With the run up to the New year, the NSW architectural industry is still as buoyant as ever. Previously, the residential boom dominated the market. Over the year, we have seen this market decline slightly giving way to other sectors such as Heath, Education and infrastructure.

The New South Wales 2018-2019 budget has seen an increase of spending on spaces for our youth and elderly. The budget includes spending of $8 billion over four years to build and upgrade 40 hospitals and $6 billion to build and upgrade 170 schools. Hence, the architecture team here at CGC has been busy with sector specific recruitment mainly for project architects with Education and aged care project experience.

Saying this, I personally do feel that the residential market will pick up in the next few years with NSW’s population projected to increase by 40% to more than 11 million by 2056. A big issue that needs to be addressed is the affordability of housing for new buyers. With the majority of properties in Sydney reaching well above the $1 million mark, this is a luxury that many cannot afford. Therefore, I believe that the need for affordable housing will be an important factor that will be addressed over the next few years.

Picture: Parramatta's Arthur Phillip High School will be rebuilt in a 17-storey tower.

The increase of population will also boost other sectors such as commercial, retail and public buildings. It will be an exciting time for the architecture industry, as the main focus will be smarter design solutions with the community in mind. With hopefully a focus on climate change and sustainable practices.

CGC Social

During September CGC celebrated a successful first quarter with a quirky Axe throwing activity, lovely Thai lunch and a few drinks. 

The CGC team made their way to Maniax, St Peters and enjoyed a friendly but still competitive Axe throwing tournament. Some competitors proved to have a better ability than others – not mentioning any names (Jim), and the tournament ended with a finale between Rory and Will, both hitting consistent bulls-eyes but congratulations goes to Will who finally won the title.

The hungry CGC team then made their way to Newton to winddown with some great food and drinks.

There were many birthdays to celebrate during September and October so plenty of social activities! This also means plenty of cake! So, smiles all-round within the office.

Happy birthday again Prashilta, Lindsey, Evan, Matthew, Allysaar, Oliver and Matt!

CGC also welcomed two new employees to the team, Tom Marsh and Karl French. Tom has joined Dan’s team and is recruiting white collar candidates within renewables. While Karl has taken on the HVAC Services, BMS and Electrical sector and has joined Nic in team MEP!

Several consultants across the business marked new anniversaries during September and October, with Rory (4 years), Lee (2 years), George (2 years), Martin (1 year) and Maria (1 year).  Well done guys!

Carmel supported the recent WIDAC event, who we sponsor nationally. This month’s networking event focused on the “Road to recovery” with speeches from the following people:

Alex Wessling - Director HDR

Kate Evans - Group Executive People Strategies, Shape Australia

Sara Haslinger - Partner Shaw Reynolds Lawyers

The speakers shared stories of their different journeys and how they have progressed through their careers to be the inspirational leaders they are today.  They were very insightful!

Danyelle, John and Mikaila participated in the famous Bridge run, all completing the 10k run within 1 hour! Mikaila led the way with a finishing time of 54 minutes! Well done Mikaila.

And finally, we were all very excited when our very own Jamie Ryde flew back to the UK for the royal wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank!! That's Jamie in the far right of the Hello Magazine photo, following Robbie Williams.

All in all it’s been a great couple of months and now we go again!