Governance

Prof Helen Lochhead FRAIA

National President

Professor Helen Lochhead is an Australian architect, urban and landscape designer.

Prior to her appointment as Dean of UNSW’s Built Environment Faculty, she held a number of influential positions in the NSW Government and the City of Sydney including Executive Director roles at the Sydney Olympic Park Authority and Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and was most recently deputy NSW Government Architect.

Her career has focused on the inception, planning, design and delivery of complex multidisciplinary projects and public works ranging from a five-year city improvements program for the City of Sydney leading up to the 2000 Olympics to major urban renewal and waterfront projects. She has been instrumental in shaping more major precincts around Sydney Harbour than most, including the transformation of Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush Bay from a sports precinct into a mixed-use community and parklands with environmental credentials that set new benchmarks. More recently she led the development of a 30-year plan for the transformation of Sydney Cove, the gateway to Sydney’s CBD and was instrumental in setting a new strategic vision for Sydney Harbour.

Professor Lochhead maintains a high profile in the profession and her professional contribution has been recognised through many industry awards including Australian Institute of Architects and Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Urban Design and Sustainability Awards, the Australian Institute of Architects Marion Mahony Griffin Prize, the National Association of Women in Construction Vision Award for leadership in the construction industry and the Australian Institute of Architects NSW President’s Prize.

High-level appointments include the National Council of the Australian Institute of Architects, the Central Sydney Planning Committee, the ACT Planning and Land Council, the NSW Heritage Council and competition juries and design review panels across Australia. All are a testament to her standing in the profession.

A graduate of both the University of Sydney and Columbia University in New York, Professor Lochhead’s career has combined professional practice and teaching both in Australia and the United States as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney and also as visiting academic at Harvard, MIT and Columbia Universities. In 2014-15 she was also the Lincoln/Loeb Fellow at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Clare Cousins LFRAIA

Immediate Past President

Clare Cousins established her Melbourne practice, Clare Cousins Architects, in 2005. Engaged in projects large and small, the studio has a particular interest in housing and projects that nurture community.

Clare is a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, Immediate Past President, and a member of the Board and National Council. Clare was elected in 2016 as a Nationally Elected Councillor. She has also contributed in Victoria as a Chapter Councillor, Small and Medium Practice Forum member, Member Services Committee (chair), AA Editorial Committee (chair), Constructive Mentoring Program mentor and state and national awards juror. Clare was recognised for her work and professional engagement in 2013 with the Institute's National Emerging Architect prize.

Clare is an inaugural investor in Nightingale and is now undertaking her own Nightingale project, a socially, financially and ecologically sustainable multi-residential housing model where architects lead the project as both designer and developer.

Alice Hampson FRAIA

President Elect

Alice Hampson is a registered architect, sole practitioner, writer, heritage expert, architectural historian—and one of only a few practicing Queensland architects who is a professional installation artist.

She graduated from the University of Queensland in Design Studies and Architecture with first class Honours and the Board of Architects Prize, the RAIA Medallion and prizes for design, drawing and construction. Her design work has been published and received awards both nationally and internationally. As an historian and heritage expert, Hampson specialises in mid-twentieth-century works. She has been on national jury panels for AA’s Unbuilt Architecture Prize, HOUSES Awards, Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal, along with judging numerous architecture and design competitions.

She has been a Fellow of the Institute since 2006 and has been an assessor for cultural heritage and a speaker at professional conferences in Australia and abroad. She currently sits on the Board of Architects Queensland, the Federal Government’s Official Residences Advisory Committee, the Accreditation Standing Panel for AACA, the Independent Expert Panel for the Queensland Cultural Centre, Panel of Part 2 Exam Writers for AACA and is an APE Part 3 Examiner for AACA. For the Institute she is a Nationally Elected National Councilor, a member of the Queensland Honours Committee and a member of the National Awards Review Committee. She is a contributing editor for Architecture Media and was previously Queensland Editor for Monument. She has also been State Juror, Deputy Director of Juries and Chair of Juries for the Institute’s Queensland Awards.

Ms Vanessa Bird FRAIA

National Council Elected Director

Vanessa co-founded Bird de la Coeur Architects in 1996. The studio specialises in housing, including multi-residential housing, social housing for government organisations, and Aged Care. After more than 20 years in practice, their work is widely published and has received numerous industry awards.

As Victorian Chapter President from 2016-2018, Vanessa engaged regularly with government and advocated for architecture in the formation of planning legislation including the Better Apartment Design Standards, Central City Built Form Controls and Fisherman’s Bend. She strongly promoted the critical role architecture plays in ensuring our cities and towns are sustainable and enrich the quality of life. She cemented close working relationships with the Government Architect, Creative Victoria, the Universities, Victorian Building Authority, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, City of Melbourne, Planning Institute of Australia, and Institute of Landscape Architects.

She joined National Council in 2016 as Victorian Chapter President was elected to National Council in 2018 as a Nationally-elected Councillor. She is the Chair of the Digital Transformation Steering Committee and a member of the National Awards Review Committee. She is an active member of the Victorian Medium Practice Forum, the Victorian Honours Committee.

She was a Victorian Chapter Councillor from 2001-2007, a member of the National Convention Committee 2003 and a founding member of the Smaller Practice Forum. Vanessa has taught in design and technology at RMIT University and represented the Institute on Course Accreditation Panels for the University of Melbourne and Deacon University. She is a frequent juror on Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Awards program and was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects in 2008.

Mr Peter Hobbs FRAIA

National Council Elected Director

Peter Hobbs is an architect and registered builder. Peter is a passionate advocate of sustainable planning practices. Peter is suitably qualified and highly experienced in architecture an urban design, as well as sustainable design and heritage conservation. He has a high level of expertise in the aforementioned areas and is highly regarded among his professional peers. He is the 2019/2020 Western Australian Chapter President.

Peter has been a practising architect in Western Australia for the last twenty-five years, during which time he has amassed a wealth of planning, architectural, urban design and construction experience, and has been awarded by his peers with several state RAIA Architecture Awards.

In 2013 Peter formed 1:1 PH Architects with Melbourne Practice 1:1 as a sole purpose vehicle to service the ALDI Rollout. In this time, 1:1 PH has delivered 14 high quality ALDI projects across the Perth metropolitan area.

Mr Andrew Broffman RAIA

Interim Independent Director

Andrew Broffman is the managing director of Tangentyere Design, a social enterprise of the Alice Springs based Aboriginal NGO, Tangentyere Council. The practice's mission - broadly aligned with its parent organisation - is to work within the built environment for the advancement of Aboriginal people living in central Australia. The practice has a long history of involvement in Indigenous housing and other community projects, and has been recognised by its peers with a number of important architectural awards.

Andrew is the current Australian Institute of Architects NT Chapter President. In addition to being a Chapter Councillor, he has served the Institute on many committees, including the National Sustainability Committee and the National Committee for Gender Equity.

Andrew received his Masters in Architecture from the University of Illinois in Chicago and a Masters in Sociology from Brandeis University. He brings to the Board a passion for social justice in the built environment and experience in both urban corporate and small remote practices.

Ms Genevieve Overell

Independent Director

Genevieve is the Director, Government Advisory at Deutsche Bank AG Australia and New Zealand.

A fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Institute of Public Administration of Australia and a lawyer by background, Genevieve is an Independent Member of the Audit Committee of the Victorian Government’s State Revenue Office, Non-Executive Director and Audit and Risk Committee member of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Non-Executive Director of the Australian Institute of Architects, Policy Advisory Committee member of the German Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Senior Mentor for the Women in Banking and Finance’s 2016 Mentoring for Success Program.

Genevieve was previously Deputy Secretary in the Victorian Government responsible for planning, building and heritage approvals and policy.

Before government, Genevieve was a partner at KPMG specialising in major public infrastructure projects including the development of Federation Square and the redevelopment of Melbourne Docklands and a member of the Legal Profession Tribunal, Victoria.

Genevieve’s former non-executive roles include Chairman, Victoria's Building Advisory Council, Non-Executive Director of Victorian Interpreters and Translation Service LanguageLink, a Government Business Enterprise, Non-Executive Director of the International Diabetes Institute of Australia (now Baker IDI), Councillor of the Property Council of Australia, Victorian Division and a member of numerous Victorian Government audit committees.

Andrew Gillon
Interim Independent Director

Andrew Gillon is a Client Director in the Investment Advisory practice of Pitcher Partners. He joined the firm in 2015, after gaining over 15 years of experience in investment and finance, most recently with Deutsche Bank acting as a Portfolio Manager in the Multi-Asset Group, where he was a member of the Asian and Australian Investment Committees.

He is responsible for providing strategic and tactical asset allocation advice and multi-asset portfolio construction together with investment advisory and management services to a range of clients, including not-for-profit, membership-based organisations and institutional clients.

Andrew is a former Panel Member of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) – Securities Section and has recently retired from the Board and Investment Committee of a not-for-profit organisation after 12 years.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Mathematics) and Commerce (Accounting) with further studies including a Grad. Dip. Applied Finance and he is a Certified Financial Planner.