Western Australian Chapter Conference 2023

6 type B CPD points will be awarded per day and a total of 12 type B CPD points if attending the full conference. 

Please click here to download the preliminary program.





Program subject to change


Ari Akritidis

Ari is managing director of Akritidis Group Building Consultants who provide specialised statutory and consultant building regulatory services throughout Australia.

He has practiced as an unlimited registered Building Surveyor for over 25 years and been registered as a Fire Safety Engineer for over 20 years.

Ari has served on numerous industry and government boards including the Building Appeals Board (BAB) for 10 years, the Building Regulations Advisory Committee (BRAC) and the Building Practitioners Board (BPB).

His most recent role was as one of a national 6-person 'experts panel' together with Bronwyn Weir and others contracted by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) to assist in the National implementation of the Building Confidence Report.

Ari has spent the last 5 years working solely in the 'expert witness' space preparing expert reports for state, territory and federal courts and tribunals throughout the Country.

 

Elizabeth Bazen

 

Elizabeth Bazen is a policy officer at the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. She is currently working to implement the Building Confidence Report recommendations in WA, including reforms to the building approvals process and registration of engineers.

Elizabeth has qualifications in architecture and building surveying, and has 15 years’ experience working in government policy and regulation. 


Matt Booth


Matt Booth is a senior fire safety consultant at Warringtonfire in Sydney. He is responsible for completing fire safety engineering assessments and preparing performance solution reports for a wide range of new and existing buildings – including residential, office buildings, retail buildings, and health and educational facilities.

Prior to his employment at Warringtonfire, he worked for a product developer and supplier in the fire industry with experience in R&D, sales and project management.

Matt completed his Master’s thesis on the topic of fire protection of lithium-ion battery systems within buildings which carries across a lot of relevant information to the topic of electric vehicles. He has also remained highly involved in Warringtonfire's response to the emerging hazard that electric vehicles represent in building design and continually seeks the newest information on this topic.


Dr Geoff Boughton

Geoff has a PhD in Structural Engineering at the Cyclone Testing Station, James Cook University and is a member of the Australasian Wind Engineering Society. He works as a structural research engineer with the Cyclone Testing Station and has been involved in teams that have investigated damage following extreme wind events. He has worked on many projects in Australia and the Pacific to evaluate and improve resilience in buildings. He is a member of several Australian Standards Committees including the committees for the wind loadings standards, AS/NZS 1170.2 and AS 4055. 

 

Paul da Costa

 

Paul is the Principal Building Surveyor in the compliance directorate of Building and Energy (DMIRS) and has held that role 7 years. He is a registered Level 1 Building Surveyor Practitioner with post graduate qualifications in fire safety engineering. 
Paul is a key team member of the Building & Energy’s audit program and has been a part of the WA building industry for 35 years, with the last 15 seeing him hold senior building surveying roles in the private and public sector.

 

Leo Longman

 

Leo Longman is Principal Building Surveyor at the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety’s Building and Energy Division.  Leo is a registered Level 1 Building Surveyor in Western Australia and has been a key team member of the Standards Branch since joining in 2020.

Prior to joining the team, Leo worked in private building surveying and has a building design and construction background.


Gavin Maund

 

Gavin Maund has been with DFES for over twenty years where he started as a firefighter at Perth Fire Station. He is currently the District Officer of Plan Assessments in the DFES Built Environment Branch, where he is involved in managing the provision of DFES advice on building design and also teaching in Station Officer Development Programs - to ensure future Fire Officers understand contemporary building designs and the implications of performance based engineering on firefighter response. He holds a Masters in Fire Engineering and currently studying a second Masters in Professional Engineering, in the discipline of structural engineering. 

 

Allan Meikle 

 

Allan Meikle is a Senior Technical Officer at the Department of Mines , Industry Regulation and Safety’s Building and Energy Division and is a registered level 1 Building Surveyor . 

He has worked in various positions within DMIRS since commencing in 2017, including the Audit and Enforcement Branches and has been a key member of the Standards Branch since joining them in 2019.

Allan has been in the building industry in various roles starting off in Architecture and Project Management in Scotland and in Building Control following migration to Australia. 

He has been in the Building Control field in Western Australia for over 30 years. 

In this time Allan has worked in various local governments including positions as building surveyor in Albany, Capel, Gosnells and as Manager Building Services at both Karratha and Broome. 

He also has several years’ experience working as a Private Building Surveyor. 

 

Lauren Morris

 

Lauren is a Senior Technical Officer in the Audit Branch of Building and Energy (DMIRS) where she has also held the role of Building Inspector. She currently forms part of a team undertaking compliance inspections to monitor the work and conduct of registered building surveying contractors.

Lauren holds a Graduate Diploma in Building Surveying and is a registered Level 1 Building Surveying Practitioner. Prior to her 6 years at Building and Energy, Lauren held Building Surveying roles in both the private sector and local government for 10 years

 

Craig Purcell

 

Craig Purcell has over 20 years’ experience in professional indemnity insurance as both a client to Insurance Broking Houses and then moving to Business Development roles for insurance brokers. Since joining the Honan Insurance Group in 2021, Craig has worked extensively with Building Surveyors directly and through the agency of the AIBS. Craig’s deep understanding of the drivers of optimal premium and coverage outcomes has made him a valuable resource to many Building Surveyor firms


Stephen Scimonello


Stephen has a background in education, building surveying and planning. He is a registered building practitioner in the category of building surveyor – unlimited with the Victorian Building Authority for over 22 years and is a Certified Practicing Planner and Corporate Member with the Planning Institute of Australia.

Stephen’s experience and qualifications as an academic and practising building surveyor, includes:

  • Consultant Building Surveyor - Unlimited
  • 10 years as Discipline Leader - Bachelor of Building Surveying & Graduate Diploma of Building Surveying at Holmesglen Institute
  • Involvement on previous government advisory panels including Advisory Reference Panel Member, VBA Representative with the Victorian Cladding Taskforce, external panel member on the VBA Technical Advisory Panel of Consultants, BRAC member and contracted to a number of regional Councils
  • Previous AIBS Victoria Chapter Committee.
  • A Bachelor of Technology in Building Surveying, Master of Social Science (Planning & Environment), Master of Engineering (Construction Management) and as a certified practising Planner with the Planning Institute of Australia
  • PhD Candidate – Victoria University

 

Allan Shiell


Allan Shiell is the audit manager at the Department of Mines Industry Regulation and Safety’s Building and Energy Division. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honours in Building Control Surveying and is a registered Level 1 Building Surveyor. He heads up a team of building professionals who monitor the building industry and includes carrying out audit inspections of Registered Service Providers under the delegation of the Building Commissioner. 

Allan has 22 years’ experience and has worked in various roles in the construction industry starting as a quantity surveyor/architectural designer in Scotland. He has worked in Building Control here in Australia for over 14 years in various Local Governments as Principal Building Surveyor and State Government’s Building Commission before Building and Energy.

Victoria Shute


Victoria is an Associate Director at Kelledy Jones Lawyers.  She is an expert on all matters involving building regulation, planning and development law.  Victoria has been dedicated to these practice areas since first being admitted to legal practice having started her legal career close to 20 years ago. 

Victoria is known for her clear, practical and strategic legal advice and represents councils, Government agencies and private-practice building surveyors throughout Australia.  Since 2014, Victoria has been recognized in the Best Lawyers List and in Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession as one of Australia’s best planning and environmental lawyers.  She often publishes papers for national legal journals and other publications.

Her reputation as a trusted advisor means that Victoria is a sought-after educator who regularly conducts seminars, briefings, talks and lectures to councils, member and professional organisations, statutory boards and to University students studying in building regulation, planning and development law.


Sid Thoo


Sid Thoo RAIA is an award-winning architect, consultant and educator. He is also a NatHERS accredited assessor and previously part of the Australian Building Codes Board Subject Matter Expert (SME) Network, focussing on residential energy efficiency. 

He has taught at a number of Australian universities and colleges and gives regular presentations and workshops on eco-effective building design.


Jeremy Turner


Accredited as a Level 1 Building Surveyor for over 25 years, with 26 years professional experience in Building Surveying, Jeremy spent 19 years serving the AIBS in various voluntary roles before joining AIBS as a member of staff. He has held the role of AIBS’s Technical and Policy Manager since 2016.  Utilising extensive experience with a wide range of projects in diverse environments his current role supports technical building policy development and advocacy, supporting AIBS in pursuit of its vision for the building surveying profession and in the organisation’s role as an occupational association.

Jeremy represents the building surveying profession on various national bodies including the Australian Building Codes Board’s Building Codes Committee, as joint secretary of the Industry Technical Infrastructure Forum, a member of the Construction Product Alliance and a variety of Standards Australia committees. Jeremy is also chair of the Building Codes Committee Industry Representatives Group.

Jeremy has a Bachelor of Building from the University of South Australia and a Graduate Certificate in Civil (Structural) Engineering from the University of Adelaide and is a member of Engineers Australia at the grade of Engineering Technologist.  


Andrew Wheeler


Andrew is the Executive Director for the Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels Ltd (ACRS). Prior to this appointment he has worked as a structural consulting engineer, project manager based in Sydney Region. 

Andrew has a long history with the Australian construction industry working as an Applied Researcher, Senior Project Manager, Consulting Engineer and Technical expert. He has worked closely with industry partners addressing issues in design methods and implementing quality procedures for products and systems.

Andrew has served and continues to serve on a number and technical committees for Standards Australia, NATA and other certifying authorities.