IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

SUSAN HOLDEN AND OLIVIA DAW

Watershed or whimper?
The Australian Year of the
Built Environment, 2004

The announcement that 2004 would be designated the Year of the Built
Environment (YBE) was an important declaration by Australian governments of
the role of the built environment for future environmental sustainability. It pro-
vided an impetus for a whole-of-government perspective on built environment
issues that also raised the spectre of past attempts at a federal urban policy agen-
da. It had been a long interval since the short-lived Commonwealth Department
of Urban and Regional Development (DURD, 1972–75) initiated by the Whitlam
Labor Government that sought to raise the profile of urban governance as a na-
tional policy priority, and the Hawke–Keating Labor Government’s Building
Better Cities Program (1991–96) that piloted a model for intergovernmental col-
laboration catalysing the role of Australian cities in economic development.1 If
those previous schemes focused on the role of the federal government in coordi-
nating more strategic resource distribution and incentivising high-quality urban
development, what would the impetus of sustainability bring?

One of the main priorities of YBE was to activate community engagement in
sustainability issues. In this respect, it aimed to cement emerging sustainable
principles as a central tenet of urban development. This vision was articulated
by the Governor-General Major General Michael Jeffery, patron-in-chief of YBE,
at its national launch at the 5-star rated green building 30 Bond in Sydney: “I
believe this can be a watershed year that will provide impetus for positive built
environment outcomes to flow on to the community for years to come.”2 With
2004 also a federal election year, there was a political context to the activities
and debates of YBE, and associated industry-wide calls for a coordinated policy
agenda. Yet in the lead up to the October election, the Urban Design Forum sig-
nalled the lack of ongoing political commitment:

The Year of the Built Environment is a whimper, the election year Budget of-
fers little more, with practically no leadership for sustainable infrastructure
and communities. Despite the rhetoric, recent road allocations well out-
pace public transport, and Australia’s response to the international Kyoto
Protocol expectations for reduction of greenhouse gases is mostly smoke
and mirrors.3

Despite being one of the few national attempts at coordinating resources and

Fig. 1 Year of the Built Environment
logo. [Courtesy of Warren Kerr]

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

attention around built environment issues, there has been little analysis of YBE
or its impact. This paper draws together dispersed data on the events and out-
comes of the year, and interviews with select protagonists, to present an account
of YBE and analyse the initiative in relation to the evolution of built environment
policy in Australia.4 To some extent YBE was a politically opportunistic attempt—
in the lead up to a federal election—to focus attention and resources on the
emerging imperative of environmental sustainability at a time when the concept
was gaining popular momentum. Its expansive program of events, exhibitions,
and demonstration projects engaged communities and industry as crucial actors
in achieving sustainable built environments. However, YBE was also the out-
come of a concerted effort in the architecture profession, led by Warren Kerr as
Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) WA Chapter President (2001–03)
and National President (2004–05), to more effectively influence the quality of
the built environment and its legacy for future generations. One of its most im-
portant legacies was the re-establishment of Government Architect roles and the
strategic connection of these roles through the Government Architects Network
of Australia (GANA). That YBE has been somewhat forgotten in the professional
record can be attributed to more than just the well-recognised problem of institu-
tional amnesia.5 It also reflects how the environmental sustainability agenda was
stalled in Australia by the politicisation of climate change.

A national approach to sustainable cities

The 2003 Australian Government Inquiry into Sustainable Cities 2025 and sub-
sequently initiated Sustainable Cities Program provided an important political
context for YBE.6 The Inquiry came about as a recommendation of the second
State of the Environment Report of 2001, which recognised the key role of cities
in achieving sustainable futures and established a policy impetus for the evalu-
ation of urban environments as part of a broader sustainability agenda.7 During
the 1990s, sustainability discourse advanced globally after the United Nations
Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (1987), popularised the concept of a limit
to growth and the term entered policy lexicon.8 During this so-called “sustaina-
bility decade,” Australia made significant political commitment to advancing
sustainability, albeit with varying levels of success in operationalising policy.9

The sustainability agenda placed the built environment in direct relation to the
natural environment and recast the value of a national approach to urban gov-
ernance. Indeed, the Inquiry identified the lack of a national approach to policy
and strategic coordination for the urban environment as a barrier to achieving
more sustainable outcomes.10 In contrast to the integrated approach for the
protection and management of Australia’s natural environment, the Inquiry
identified that most government programs and constitutional power relating to
factors influencing urban sustainability were coordinated at a state or local level
without “high-level, strategic coordination.”11 The federal government commit-
ted $168.5 million in its 2003–04 budget “to protect the nation’s built heritage
and help make urban life more sustainable.”12 The Sustainable Cities Program
was a headline initiative, receiving $40 million of funding over five years to “en-
sure understanding of, and action for, sustainable Australia.”13 Federal funding
was also made available under the Distinctively Australian program and the Cool
Communities program that linked the Australian Greenhouse Office with NGOs
and communities.14

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

The Federal Government’s engagement with built environment issues provided
an opportunity for the RAIA to advance its agenda for sustainable development
and design excellence. The RAIA made a submission to the Inquiry,15 and they
played a central role in initiating and subsequently organising YBE, in large part
through the successful lobbying activities of Warren Kerr. During his term as
RAIA WA Chapter President (2001–03), Kerr had developed the idea for a Year of
the Built Environment, motivated by the desire to see more cohesive and effec-
tive built environment policy in Australia and the architecture profession make
a bigger contribution to urban governance. He was inspired by the 2002 Year of
the Outback, which aimed to highlight the importance of regional and remote
Australia and was commemorated with a special $1 coin. Kerr had extensive ex-
perience with government, having worked as a graduate for the Commonwealth
Department of Works and then later for the WA Building Management Authority,
and he used his experience and networks, also developed through his leadership
roles with the RAIA and the Australian Council of Building Design Professions
(BDP), to garner support for YBE initially in WA, then from the other states, and
ultimately from the Office of the Prime Minister.16 In the lead up to the federal
budget delivered in May 2003, the Commonwealth Government endorsed the
initiative as a national activity, recognising an opportunity for policy announce-
ments in an election year and, in turn, 2004 was officially designated the Year
of the Built Environment.17 Responsibility for the year was then delegated to the
Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage.

In the National Environment Budget Statement 2004–05, David Kemp,
Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Heritage, outlined
that one of the focuses for the year was the development of national standards
for the sustainability of the built environment and working towards the adop-
tion of a national approach to “policies, partnerships and programmes.”18 More
specifically, this included legislation for national water efficiency labelling and
standards (WELS), reviewing additional standards for toxic gas, sulphur, and
ground-level ozone standards, and the aim to strengthen environmental aspects
of building codes and standards, as well as ensuring access to community and
decision makers to national information regarding the urban environment.

As the RAIA National President for 2003–04, David Parken chaired the National
Steering Committee for YBE, while Kerr, who succeeded Parken as RAIA National
President (2004–05), headed up the WA Steering Committee, which had its head-
quarters in the Western Australian Department of Housing and Works.19 The YBE
National Steering Committee established seven themes for the year: Towards
Sustainable Communities; Healthy Environments; Excellence in Building; Our
Built Heritage; Imagining the Future; Design for All; and Building Regional
Communities.20 A National YBE Exemplars and Awards Program showcased and
celebrated exemplary people, places, and organisations under these themes. Ten
awards were given at a Gala event in November 2004, including the newly re-
vised and illustrated edition of the Burra Charter published in 2004, and Council
House 2 (CH2)—Australia’s first Green Building Council 6-star rated building—
completed in 2006 for the City of Melbourne (Table 1). The strategy of using
exemplars to demonstrate tangible approaches to achieving sustainability in the
built environment also informed the numerous built projects that were spon-
sored during YBE.

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

In addition to the Burra Charter being acknowledged in the YBE national awards
program, the Australian Government also published Adaptive Reuse: Preserving
our Past, Building our Future, which showcased exemplary projects, and there
was a strong focus on heritage-themed activities and events in several states.21

Education was another important focus of YBE, and an opportunity to advance
initiatives developed with prior government support. In Victoria the Designers
in Schools initiative was reintroduced.22 The NSW Chapter of the RAIA explored
ways to advance the Built Environment Education (BEE) program.23 A web-based
School Sustainable Design Tool was launched in Queensland. Developed in col-
laboration with the Department of Education, it enabled students to learn about
sustainability and contribute information showcasing their hometowns.24

An extensive program of events gave momentum and shape to the year itself. A
nationally coordinated website allowed the numerous events and exhibitions
organised during the year by diverse groups to be supported by YBE, if not fi-
nancially, then through endorsement by the YBE State Secretariats, as well as
numerous related events to be opportunistically brought under the YBE banner.25
Youthquake was a national gathering of under-35-year-old future leaders of the
property and construction industries that focused on developing a sustainable
vision for Australia in 2050, and there were several national- and state-based
forums and symposiums on specific built environment issues including coast-
al urbanisation, project housing, and child-friendly cities.26 The Museum of
Brisbane hosted The 200km City exhibition, organised by Peter Spearritt and
The Brisbane Institute, which highlighted the pressures of population growth in
South-East Queensland and the role of strategic planning frameworks in shap-
ing sustainable settlement patterns.27 Tasmania’s events program focused on
built and landscape heritage with a four-part debate series staged across the year.
Topics included “old buildings are better than new ones,” and “suburbs: the great
Australian dream has turned into a nightmare.” (Fig. 2)

Sydney hosted a YBE City Talks lecture series across the year with high-profile
international speakers, including UK-based sustainability expert John Doggart
with Australian architect Danielle McCartney,28 American urban studies the-
orist Richard Florida on his recently published book The Rise of the Creative
Class (2002), and architectural theorist Beatriz Colomina, director of Princeton
University School of Architecture, who was in Australia as a keynote speaker for

Category Winners Commendations

Towards Sustainable
Communities

Ché Wall Ecospecifier, and Inkerman Housing
Project, VIC

Healthy Environments ARUP OATSIH Capital Works Program Humitec, Burnie City Walking Track, TAS,
and Wangka Wilurrara, SA

Excellence in Building Federation Square, VIC, and Walsh Bay, NSW

Our Built Heritage Burra Charter Adelaide City Council Heritage Incentive
Scheme, SA, and Canterbury Primary
School, VIC

Imagining the Future Council House 2, VIC, and Chris Johnson and
the Houses of the Future exhibition, NSW

Design for All Archicentre, and John McInerney Smart Housing Queensland

Building Regional
Communities

Broken Hill Heritage Cultural Tourism Program,
NSW

Tahune Forest Airwalk, TAS, and
Queensland Heritage Trails

Table 1 YBE 2004 National Awards
and Exemplars Program. [Year of the
Built Environment, 2004, electronic
resource (Perth, WA: YBE 2004,
2003)]

YYeeaarr ooff

tthhee BBuuiilltt
EEnnvviirroonnmmeenntt

Public
Debate

#3
““ OOlldd

bbuuiillddiinnggss
aarree bbeetttteerr
tthhaann nneeww

oonneess ””
School of
Visual and
Performing

Arts
Auditorium

Inveresk

7.30pm
Thursday

28 October
2004

Entry by
gold coin donation

Refreshments
provided

For information
ring 6234 3552

YYeeaarr ooff
tthhee BBuuiilltt

EEnnvviirroonnmmeenntt

Public
Debate

#4
““ SSuubbuurrbbss;;
tthhee ggrreeaatt

AAuussttrraalliiaann
ddrreeaamm hhaass

ttuurrnneedd iinnttoo aa
nniigghhttmmaarree ””

Entry by

gold coin donation

Refreshments
provided

For information
ring 6234 3552

7.30pm
Thursday

25 November
2004

School of
Visual and
Performing

Arts
Auditorium

Inveresk

Fig. 2 Tasmania YBE Debate Series
poster. [https://web.archive.org/
web/20050616084907/http://
www.wsa.tas.gov.au/ybe/YBE%20
DEBATE%20Poster%201%20
%202%20.pdf, accessed 16 May
2022; courtesy of the Tasmanian
Conservation Trust]

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

the Biennale of Sydney. The Honourable Paul Keating spoke in this series in a
debate on the Future of Sydney Harbour, a hot topic in the lead up to the East
Darling Harbour urban design competition.29 Another significant international
visitor was Sir Stuart Lipton, chair of the UK Commission for Architecture and
the Built Environment (CABE), who visited Sydney in February 2004. Lipton
brought CABE to the attention of an Australian audience, and it became some-
thing of a benchmark for those pondering the legacy of YBE for Australia.

YBE legacy projects

A focal point of YBE at both national and state levels was the promotion of ex-
emplars through awards, educational material, and demonstration projects. The
Houses of the Future exhibition was a flagship demonstration project led by NSW
State Government Architect Chris Johnson. Johnson and his team, which includ-
ed Sara Stace and Meredith Bennion, chose the lens of the home to address issues
of sustainability, where they believed most people had experience and under-
standing of the built environment.30 Following the well-established modernist
tradition of housing exhibitions, they commissioned six futuristic houses that
were displayed on the Sydney Opera House forecourt from 15–31 October 2004.31

Fig. 3 Houses of the Future on the
Sydney Opera House forecourt
(2004). [Photograph by John Gollings
AM, Gollings Photography Pty Ltd]

Each house was designed by a different architect, made from a different base
material, and aimed to provoke new thinking on the future of domestic space.32
Placing focus on the home was a tangible way to demonstrate lessons on environ-
mental sustainability while showcasing design and material innovation. (Fig. 3)

The houses promoted sustainability through their use of materials, design for
pre-fabrication, and incorporation of passive environmental design strategies
and rainwater recycling.33 Each house was required to conform with BASIX, a
new building sustainability index being adopted in NSW in 2004 to ensure that
new residential dwellings would be designed and built to use 40 per cent less
drinking-quality water and produce less greenhouse gas emissions than average
homes.34 According to Johnson, there was some anxiety and resistance around

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

the introduction of BASIX, so the Houses of the Future exhibition additionally
served to demystify the new tool.35

Johnson also aspired to influence mass market housing and the exhibition
aligned with the topic of the 2004 NSW Premier’s Forum on Suburban and
Project Housing. The houses were delivered by Multiplex and a key goal for the
exhibition, influenced by Colomina’s visit, was to have a broad impact via mass
media coverage where Johnson hoped the projects would capture the imagina-
tion of the public and generate images of the possibilities of housing that would
“outlast the reality” of the exhibited buildings.36 Johnson’s accompanying book,
HOMES DOT COM: Architecture for All, placed the experimental houses from the
exhibition and principles of sustainable design in relation to the ubiquitous “pro-
ject home” and the broader context of Australian suburbia.37 Over 75,000 people
visited the exhibition, and extensive media interest through television, newspa-
pers, magazines, and major websites brought international attention to YBE.38
Accompanying Houses of the Future, the YBE Secretariat assisted the Australian
Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) and the Sydney Botanic Gardens in de-
veloping Gardens of the Future, an exhibition that addressed similar issues.39

The focus on demonstration projects continued in Victoria, where the City of
Melbourne and Archicentre renovated two terrace houses in the inner-city sub-
urb of Carlton. The Terraces sought to provide tangible “consumer education”
on design, construction, and sustainability. The Victorian Building Commission
was a partner in this demonstration project and provided secretariat support for
YBE activities in Victoria, and was involved in several legacy projects. They part-
nered with Heritage Victoria to publish the first edition of What House Is That?, a
booklet highlighting key housing styles in Victoria, that aimed to improve design
literacy and appreciation of the value of Victoria’s built heritage.40

In Queensland, the single dwelling was also the focus of exemplar projects, with
the Queensland State Government committing half a million dollars to support
the construction of sustainable homes around the state, a program that extend-
ed The Smart Housing initiative established by the Department of Housing in
1999 to promote sustainability in the design and construction of housing in the
private sector.41 Thirty-four local councils expressed interest in developing their
own demonstration projects under the Sustainable Homes Program, a collabo-
rative partnership between state and local governments and housing industry
organisations.42 Thirty projects were realised, occupying all four of Queensland’s
climate zones defined in the Building Code of Australia (BCA), and each home
was open for a minimum of six months for public viewing.43

Adding to Queensland’s YBE legacy projects, Wayne Petrie, who served as Chair
of the YBE Steering Committee in Queensland for the Department of Public
Works, developed the initial vision for the Architectural Practice Academy (APA)
during the year.44 As former president of the RAIA Queensland Chapter, Petrie
recognised the need to offer graduates ongoing education outside of academ-
ia and developed the experimental program to give graduates an opportunity
to lead architectural projects overseen by mentors in the profession.45 Federal
YBE funding was used for the Academy’s establishment, and it was supported
by Minister Robert Schwarten.46 The APA ran from 2005 to 2012, admitting six
graduates each year for a two-year period, with the office functioning like a small
practice as an independent unit within government while receiving assistance

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

from the Project Services Division. It also functioned as a design-focused in-
ternship program in the public service, exposing new graduates to careers in
the public sector, while ensuring they gained the post-graduation experience re-
quired to achieve professional registration.47 The APA contributed to the design
of some of the Sustainable Houses in regional locations (Fig. 4). In 2011, under
the new Liberal National Party Government, funding for the APA ceased.48

Built environment governance after YBE: Design leadership and
design policy

While the promotion of exemplars was seen as a powerful way to encourage be-
havioural change in the broader community, the goal of long-term influence
through policy was a bigger challenge and ultimately subject to the contingen-
cies of political cycles.49 YBE did provide a framework for the built environment
professions to collectively recognise the lack of strategic government leadership
on built environment issues, if not to explicitly interrogate why, as Susan Oakley
wrote during the year, “an urban policy discourse [had] not been sustainable in
Federal Government.”50 The Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) took the oppor-
tunity to launch a revised version of its 2001 national policy statement, Liveable
Communities: How the Commonwealth can Foster Sustainable Cities and Regions,
which also formed the basis of its submission to the Sustainable Cities Inquiry,
and called for coordinated national policy to rectify what Jago Dodson described
as the “policy of wilful neglect” that had characterised the years since Building
Better Cities.51 For Kerr, too, the lack of cohesive and coordinated urban policy
had been an important motivating factor behind YBE, and informed his parallel
lobbying for state and city architect positions in WA and nationally.

As part of YBE 2004, Western Australia developed a State Sustainability Strategy,
which brought an explicit sustainability focus to the strategic whole-of-govern-
ment approach to policy development that was occurring at state level across
Australia.52 The WA Strategy was intended to lead to the adoption of a dedicated

Fig. 4 Jo Macleod (2004). The Zilzi
Sustainable House by the APA.
[Photograph by John Casey, courtesy
of Queensland Department of Energy
and Public Works]

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

built environment design policy, which had been developed in draft form by
the RAIA WA Chapter in the lead up to YBE in 2003, but this was thwarted by
a change in leadership of the Labor Government, and of the Minister for Public
Works role.53 While a dedicated design policy would take another seventeen years
to arrive,54 YBE was nonetheless a catalyst for decisive action on the establish-
ment of a State Government Architect position in WA, with Geoffrey London
commencing in 2004. Kerr claimed this as one of the most tangible legacies of
YBE for the state:

In Australia, there is no government policy on the built environment, and
the appointment of a government architect to advise ministers on issues to
do with the built environment such as heritage, procurement, public-private
partnerships and pilot projects is a step in the right direction.55

This had been one of Kerr’s priorities as RAIA WA Chapter President and National
President and he used these roles to lobby jurisdictions across Australia. As part
of the launch of YBE in the Northern Territory, Chief Minister Clare Martin an-
nounced the establishment of an NT Government Architect position and Bob
Nation was appointed.56 Victoria would follow in 2006, with John Denton ap-
pointed, and by 2010 all states and territories in Australia had a Government
Architect position.57

In the lead up to YBE only NSW and Queensland had Government Architect po-
sitions. NSW was the only state in Australia where the Government Architect
position had been maintained since the colonial era.58 In Queensland the posi-
tion was re-established in 1999, with Michael Keniger appointed to the role in a
part-time capacity. A significant task of Keniger’s tenure was to begin to define
a new kind of advisory-focused Government Architect role. This shift was also
acknowledged in the RAIA WA Chapter’s development of a draft policy for the
built environment that identified an important role for governments as “custo-
dians of design excellence” and the potential for government architects to advise
and assist governments in this responsibility.59 Keniger advised several states on
the definition of the position in Queensland, including WA, Victoria, and NT,
and contributed to the establishment of an AIA Government Architect Policy
(2008).60 This ad-hoc approach to knowledge sharing was formalised during YBE
with the establishment of the GANA. Queensland hosted a second meeting of the
GANA group in 2005, cementing it as an annual event.61 In the ongoing absence
of national leadership in urban policy and strategic planning, GANA represents
one of the few mechanisms for the national coordination of the architecture pro-
fession working in government.

Following visits to Australia by representatives of the UK’s Commission for
Architecture and the Built Environment,62 CABE would become a significant
international benchmark for the development of design-led built environment
governance in Australia in subsequent decades. In 2005, members of the RAIA
NSW Chapter YBE Future Directions Committee called for an independent Built
Environment Foundation as a meaningful legacy of YBE, taking inspiration
from CABE.63 While this did not come to fruition, CABE’s practices and research
have nonetheless informed the development of design review processes and de-
sign policy in Australia. Sustainability principles have been embedded in the
design principle developed by government architects who guide the design re-
view process for public buildings and infrastructure, state-significant projects,

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

and housing. The extent to which design-led built environment governance can
influence strategic planning and procurement, and address some of the sustain-
ability challenges associated with the mass housing market that Chris Johnson
was concerned with during YBE, for example, remains an ongoing challenge.

Not to be outdone, New Zealand proclaimed 2005 as the Year of the Built
Environment there, with a similar collaborative framework between central gov-
ernment, the New Zealand Institute of Architects, and other local government
agencies and professional institutes, with over 200 activities held across the
year.64

Watershed or whimper?

In the July/August 2022 issue of Architecture Australia, the YBE award-winning
Council House 2 was revisited by Stephen Choi.65 Revisiting this project almost
20 years after its inception gives some perspective on how the sustainability dis-
course has evolved in the architecture profession. This special issue of AA on the
power of regenerative design coincided with the delayed release of the 2021 State
of the Environment Report, after a five-year period in which Australia has seen
catastrophic bushfires and floods.66 While the release of the report prompts out-
rage and grief at the ‘lost years’ since Australia took an early leading role in the
sustainability discourse in the 1990s and highlights the fraught political dimen-
sion to Australia’s sustainability journey, it is also clear that the climate crisis
requires a fundamental shift in thinking and action. Sustainability is now, in
fact, almost a cliché, and as the AA special issue makes clear, the challenge is to
move “beyond sustainability” and beyond the unproductive distinction between
the natural and built environment that persisted in YBE. While YBE recognised
the key role of cities in achieving a sustainable future, there is now recognition
of the crucial role of biodiversity in natural and built environments, including
urban ecosystems. While YBE saw heritage conservation as a parallel endeavour
to the development of ecologically sustainable design, the International Council
on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is now calling for a broader definition of her-
itage to encompass its potential to catalyse climate action and social cohesion.67

YBE may not have been a “watershed year,” and no commemorative coin was
issued, but neither was it a whimper. Both Kerr and Johnson identified the
development of design policies and the involvement of architects in built en-
vironment governance as important long-term goals. Many of the methods
explored during YBE to promote the value of good design—such as identifying
and awarding exemplary projects, supporting demonstration projects, and pro-
moting public discourse and education—remain valid public policy tools. While
the long-recognised challenges of overcoming siloed professional activity and
achieving joined-up policy may persist, one of the main legacies of YBE has been
in the incremental shifts in built environment governance processes that have
made a greater role for architects to contribute design intelligence in the form of
advocacy and advice to government. It remains for the architecture profession
to further embrace the sphere of design governance in Australia as an avenue to
achieve a greater impact on the design quality of the environment. The immense
cultural change required to underpin climate adaptation remains ahead of us all.

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

NOTES

1. Tom Uren (Minister for Urban
and Regional Development,
1972–75) was a YBE ambassador
in NSW and Keating would
re-enter the fray with a national
lecture on the future of Sydney
Harbour as part of the NSW
YBE events program. Chris
Johnson and Elizabeth Farrelly,
“Year of the Built Environment:
A Conversation,” Architectural
Theory Review 9, no. 1 (2004):
97–111; “The Harbour of the
Future,” Architecture Bulletin 3
(2004): 7–8.

2. Michael Jeffery quoted in
“National Year of the Built
Environment – 2004: A Year to
Build On,” Ecos, no. 119 (2004): 8.

3. Bill Chandler, “Is the Federal
Government Relevant,” The
Urban Design Forum, no. 66
(2004): 1.

4. Interviews conducted
under two larger projects:
Design Governance and the
Architecture Profession (ethics
approval: 2022/HE000293)
and Leadership in Design
Governance: The Future of
Advocacy and the Diversification
of the Architecture Profession
(2021/HE000992).

5. Alastair Stark and Brian Head,
“Institutional Amnesia and Public
Policy,” Journal of European
Public Policy, no. 10 (2019):
1521–39; Laura Tingle, “Political
Amnesia: How we Forgot to
Govern,” Quarterly Essay, no. 60
(2015): 1–86.

6. Australian Government,
Department of the Environment
and Heritage, Inquiry into
Sustainable Cities 2025:
Submission by the Department
of the Environment and Heritage
(Canberra: Commonwealth of
Australia, 2003): 3; Australian
Government, House of
Representatives Standing
Committee on Environment
and Heritage, Sustainable Cities
(Canberra: Commonwealth of
Australia, 2005): 21–22.

7. Australian State of the
Environment Committee,
Australia State of the
Environment 2001 (Canberra:
CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the
Department of the Environment
and Heritage, 2001). See also
Inquiry into Sustainable Cities
2025, 5–7. The first State of
the Environment Report (1996)
was initiated by Paul Keating
on the back of Australia signing
the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC, 1992) at Rio’s Earth
Summit and reflected Australia’s
international leadership and
credibility in the climate change
arena at that time.

8. United Nations, Report of
the World Commission on
Environment and Development:
Our Common Future (New York,
1987).

9. Martin Brueckner and
Christof Pforr, “The Rise and
Fall of Sustainability in Western
Australian Politics: A Review of
Sustainable Development Under
the Western Australian Labour
Government Between 2001 and
2008,” Sustainability: Science,
Practice and Policy 7, no. 2 (2011):
3.

10. Australian Government,
Department of the Environment
and Heritage, Inquiry into
Sustainable Cities 2025, 19.

11. Australian Government,
Department of the Environment
and Heritage, Inquiry into
Sustainable Cities 2025, 17. The
RAIA made a submission to the
Inquiry, prepared by the new
National Environment Committee
chaired by Lindsay Johnson.
Lindsay Johnson, “Design
Sustainability,” Architecture
Bulletin 1 (2004): 16. Johnson
and RAIA National President
David Parken (2003–04) also
appeared before the House

of Representatives Standing
Committee on Environment
and Heritage during the Inquiry.
See Architecture Australia, May
(2004).

12. David Kemp, “YBE04,”
Queensland Planner 44, no. 1
(2004): 2.

13. David Kemp, A Sustainability
Strategy for the Australian
Continent, Environment Budget
Statement 2004–05 (2004): 44.

14. “National Year of the Built
Environment – 2004,” 8.

15. The Royal Australian Institute
of Architects, “Inquiry into
Sustainable Cities: Submission
to the House of Representatives
Standing Committee on
Environment and Heritage,”
December 2003.

16. Warren Kerr, interview 28
July 2022. The initial idea for a
national Year of Architecture
was part of Kerr’s successful
election platform for the RAIA
National Presidency. To secure
Federal Government support,
Kerr communicated directly with
Arthur Sinodinos, Chief of Staff to
Prime Minister John Howard.

17. “Year of the Built Environment
2004, Introduction,” The
Architect 1 (2004): 13. In addition
to project and program funding
from the Australian Department
of the Environment and Heritage,
$500,000 was committed to help
celebrate the year.

18. Kemp, A Sustainability
Strategy for the Australian
Continent.

19. Alongside the National
Steering Committee, each
state nominated a State
Steering Committee to
oversee the program for the
year. Steering Committees
included representatives from
across the built environment
professions and were typically
supported by a relevant State
Government department. State
Governors were approached to
be YBE patrons and some states
nominated notable public figures
as YBE ambassadors. State
Steering Committees were led by:
Chris Johnson, NSW Government
Architect (NSW); Warren Kerr
(WA) with support from the
Department of Housing and
Works; Wayne Petrie (QLD) with
support from the Department of
Public Works; in Victoria (VIC)

initiatives were driven by the
Department of Public Works
and overseen by the Minister for
Planning; and in Tasmania (TAS)
initiatives were driven by the
Governor. Little is documented on
the initiatives of South Australia
(SA), Australian Capital Territory
(ACT), and Northern Territory
(NT). Architect South Australia 18,
no. 5 (2004): 8–10.

20. “National Year of the Built
Environment – 2004,” 8.

21. Commonwealth of Australia,
Department of the Environment
and Heritage, Adaptive Reuse:
Preserving our Past, Building our
Future (Canberra, 2004).

22. Earlier iterations of this
program had been supported by
the Australia Council for the Arts.

23. Beverley Garlick, “BEE is Up
and Running Again,” Architecture
Bulletin 1 (2005): 22–23.

24. Queensland Parliament, 51st
Parliament Weekly Hansard
(2004): 3816.

25. The national and state
YBE websites have been
discontinued and can be
accessed via web archive. See:
www.ybe2004.nsw.gov.au; www.
builtenvironment2004.org.
au; www.ybe2004.qld.gov.au;
http://www.wsa.tas.gov.au/ybe
(accessed 16 May 2022).

26. Some notable symposiums
included: the National Coastal
Urbanisation Symposium, Gold
Coast, 29 March 2004; the NSW
Premier’s Forum on Suburban
and Project Housing, Paramatta,
April 2004; and the Creating
Child-Friendly Cities Symposium,
Brisbane, 28–29 October 2004.

27. Peter Spearritt and K. Gum,
The 200km City: From Noosa
to the Tweed (Brisbane: The
Brisbane Institute, 2004).

28. Doggett and McCartney also
conducted a national seminar
tour supported by the RAIA
Continuing Education Unit in
conjunction with the Australian
Greenhouse Office.

29. Johnson and Farrelly,
“The Harbour of the Future,”
Architecture Bulletin 3 (2004):
6–9. Jack Munday also
contributed to this debate and
was a YBE ambassador in NSW.

30. Johnson and Farrelly, “Year of
the Built Environment,” 97–111.

IN
T

E
R

S
T

IC
E

S
2

Watershed or whimper? The Australian Year of the Built Environment, 2004 U R B A N H I S T O R I C A L

31. Chris Johnson, “Houses
of the Future and the Mass
Media,” Architecture Bulletin,
no. 3 (2004): 33. Johnson
made specific mention of Harry
Seidler’s 1954 House of the Future
and Alison and Peter Smithson’s
House of the Future, which
Beatriz Colomina had lectured
about during her visit to Sydney
in 2004.

32. The six houses were: Steel
House by Modabode (Sarah
Bickford and Paul Lucas); Clay
House by Environa Studio (Tone
Wheeler); Concrete House by
NSW Government Architect
Office (Peter Poulet and Michael
Harvey); Timber House by
Innovachi (Stephanie Smith and
Ken McBryde); Glass House by
J. Muir & UTS; and Cardboard
House by Stutchbury & Pape (Col
James).

33. “Houses of the Future: The
Brief,” YBE 2004 Houses of the
Future, www.housesofthefuture.
com.au/hof_houses01.html (site
discontinued, accessed via
internet archive 16 May 2022).

34. “Why be Environmentally
Sustainable?”, YBE 2004
Houses of the Future, http://www.
housesofthefuture.com.au/hof_
what03.html (site discontinued,
accessed via internet archive 16
May 2022).

35. Johnson and Farrelly, “Year of
the Built Environment.”

36. Johnson, “Houses of the
Future and the Mass Media,” 31.

37. Chris Johnson, HOMES
DOT COM: Architecture for All
(Sydney: Government Architect’s
Publications, 2004).

38. Architecture Bulletin, no. 1
(2005): 2.

39. Architecture Bulletin, no. 1
(2005): 2.

40. Victorian Building
Commission, Celebrating Our
Built Environment Annual Report
2003–04 (2004): 15.

41. “Triple Bottom Line,” Smart
and Sustainable Homes,
www.sustainable-homes.org.
au/02_design/triple.htm (site
discontinued, accessed via
internet archive 29 July 2022).

42. “About us,” Smart and
Sustainable Homes, www.
sustainable-homes.org.au/01_
aboutus/index.htm

(site discontinued, accessed via
internet archive 29 July 2022).

43. “Projects,” Smart and
Sustainable Homes, www.
sustainable-homes.org.
au/01_aboutus/index.htm (site
discontinued, accessed via
internet archive 29 July 2022).

44. Michael Keniger, “Mind the
Gap: The Architectural Practice
Academy,” Architectural Review
Australia 92, no. 16 (2005).

45. Charles Rowe, “The Legacy
of the Architectural Practice
Academy,” Architectural Review,
5 March 2015, http://www.
australiandesignreview.com/
architecture/the-legacy-of-the-
architectural-practice-academy
(accessed 20 June 2022).

46. Rowe, “The Legacy of the
Architectural Practice Academy.”

47. A government-sponsored
intern program for architectural
graduates was also implemented
in Western Australia. Warren Kerr,
email correspondence, 2 August
2022.

48. Rowe, “The Legacy of the
Architectural Practice Academy.”

49. YBE was a catalyst for
some advancements in national
regulation and standards. Some
key achievements cited by Kerr
that were advanced during
YBE include the Australasian
Health Faculties Guidelines
(AHFGs) which established
national standards for hospital
design, and a national review of
Architects Acts and approach
to Continuing Professional
Development. Warren Kerr, email
correspondence, 2 August 2022.

50. Susan Oakley, “Politics of
Recollection: Examining the Rise
and Fall of DURD and Better
Cities through Narrative,” Urban
Policy and Research 22, no. 3
(2004): 300.

51. Planning Institute of Australia,
Liveable Communities: How
the Commonwealth can Foster
Sustainable Cities and Regions,
February 2004; Jago Dodson,
“Pushing Planning in the Year
of The Built Environment,”
Queensland Planner 44, no. 1
(2004): 12.

52. Kuntal Goswami and Rolf
Gerritsen, “Policy Life Cycle
Analysis of Three Australian
State-Level Public Policies:
Exploring the Political Dimension

of Sustainable Development,”
Journal of Development Policy
and Practice 6, no. 1 (2021): 9–35.

53. Royal Australian Institute
of Architects (WA Chapter),
Policies for the WA Architecture
Profession, June 2003. Supplied
by Warren Kerr. See also Marsha
Jacobs. “Kerr Looks to Develop
Understanding,” Business News, 5
March 2005, www.businessnews.
com.au/article/Kerr-looks-to-
develop-understanding.

54. Western Australian
Department of Planning, Lands
and Heritage, State Planning
Policy 7.0: Design of the Built
Environment (Perth: Western
Australian Planning Commission,
2019).

55. Jacobs, “Kerr Looks to
Develop Understanding.”

56. The Architect, 1 (2004): 13.

57. There was no architect
appointed to the role in the
Northern Territory after 2009,
and the role was subsequently
abolished. The position was
also discontinued in Tasmania
after Peter Poulet left in 2012.
Government Architect positions
have been maintained in NSW,
Queensland, Western Australia,
Victoria, South Australia, and the
ACT.

58. The Office of the NSW
Government Architect
transitioned to operating primarily
in an advisory capacity in 2016.

59. RAIA WA Chapter, Policies for
the WA Architecture Profession,
8, 17.

60. Michael Keniger, interview
23 June 2022. See also
Michael Keniger, “Queensland
Government Architect,” Architect
Victoria (December 2000): 18–19.

61. Queensland Parliament, 51st
Parliament Weekly Hansard
(2004).

62. Francis Golding visited
Brisbane as a keynote speaker at
the Making of the Public Realm
Conference convened by Keniger
in 2000, one of his first initiatives
as Queensland State Government
Architect. Sir Stuart Lipton visited
Sydney during YBE for the YBE
City Talks lecture series.

63. Caroline Pidcock, “News,”
Architecture Bulletin 1 (2005): 3;
Chris Johnson; “Year of the Built
Environment Overview,” Year of

the Built Environment website,
http://www.ybe2004.nsw.gov.au/
ybe2004.asp (site discontinued,
accessed via internet archive 29
July 2022).

64. “2005 Year of the Built
Environment: Celebrating our
Cities and Towns,” www.beehive.
govt.nz/release/2005-year-built-
environment-celebrating-our-
cities-and-towns (accessed 29
July 2022). The year aimed to
inform government initiatives
such as the Sustainable
Development Programme of
Action and Urban Affairs portfolio.

65. Stephen Choi, “Revisited:
CH2 (2006), Design Inc in
Collaboration with the City
of Melbourne,” Architecture
Australia 111, no. 4 Beyond
Sustainability (2022): 86–93.

66. I. D. Cresswell, T. Janke,
and E. L. Johnston, Australia
State of the Environment 2021:
Overview, Independent report
to the Australian Government
Minister for the Environment,
Commonwealth of Australia,
Canberra, 2021, DOI: 10.26194/
f1rh-7r05. Although handed down
in 2021, this most recent iteration
of the five-yearly report was not
publicly released until July 2022
after the May federal election saw
the Albanese Labor Government
take office.

67. Climate Change and
Cultural Heritage Working
Group International Council on
Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS),
The Future of Our Pasts:
Engaging Cultural Heritage in
Climate Action (ICOMOS, Paris:
2019), https://indd.adobe.com/
view/a9a551e3-3b23-4127-99fd-
a7a80d91a29e (accessed 12 July
2022).