The government has said it needs “furtherevidence” to show that a commonwealth architect would be desirable, despite theinstitute’s long-term lobbying for the position. The government said it and theNCA could already draw on the advice of “highly skilled and experiencedarchitects when required”, arguing that a government architect might duplicatethe work of the National Capital Authority (NCA).

However David Flannery, ACT chapter president ofthe Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) told Architecture & Design said that the position would be anational one for commonwealth works that are done around the country, “not justfor Canberra”.

“[Architects] are dealing with issues that arebigger than the individual blocks and we really need governments to have abetter vision for the future that’s looking towards sustainable cities,” hesaid.

A government architect could, Flannery said,help arrest urban sprawl, improve sustainability, open up Brownfield sites and advanceinfrastructure.

Far from being another layer in the approvalsprocess the appointment would provide “overarching strategic vision and advice,inside government” he said.

The institute is not only lobbying for agovernment architect for the commonwealth but at state level for ACT too. Otherstates and big cities, such as Brisbane and Melbourne, already have governmentarchitects.

“We’re very keen to have a territory-levelarchitect is appointed and that that position be located inside the chiefminister’s dept,” Flannery said.

The benefits seen by other states wereoutstanding, he said. “The government has had good advice about the density ofdevelopment, about sustainable development in our cities, about linking thetransport infrastructure with the planning of the city and the demography ofplanning. All of these things are interlinked – the government architect can coordinatateof all of those aspects of urban and regional planning.”

A territory-led government architect couldcreate opportunities for mixed developments, mixed residential and commercialdevelopments, Flannery said.

“We’d like to see a lot more of thoseopportunities presented so that a little bit more density can be found in ourinner city areas without affecting the existing open space network,” he said.