2017 – Our Year in Review

Wow, another “year in review” has come about too quickly. The Edmiston Jones team have been kept busy up and down the south-east region of NSW as the area continues to develop and grow. A good sign for our region’s future prosperity. The firm has continued to exercise our experience in residential design and specialist housing; work with institutions to bring innovative educational facilities to reality; and create buildings that allow specialists to improve the health and wellbeing of the community. We also enjoy a diversity of projects that have included industrial complexes, beachside amenity blocks, office fit-outs, a café refurbishment as well as numerous houses up and down the coast. It has been a year of many highlights and several projects stand out. The 224 unit Parq development in Wollongong will soon go to tender and be under construction next year. Seniors Living projects have been designed including 95 dwellings for IRT at Kanahooka, 30 Independent Living Units for Uniting in Nowra and extensions to the Inasmuch Residential Care village in Sussex Inlet. Development Applications are under assessment for 46 townhouse style units in South Kiama and a residential/commercial development in Albion Park that will add vitality to the town centre. Building work has been completed for Ansto’s Nuclear Medicine facility and also the Alesco Learning Centre. In 2018 construction will be completed on ‘Gold’, 15 residential units in Bateman’s Bay, a mental health and research centre called Mind the GaP at the UOW’s Shoalhaven Campus as well as Edmund Rice College’s Creative Arts Centre in Wollongong. It hasn’t just been about creating buildings! We continue to engage with our local community and this year Edmiston Jones presented three workshops focussed on Co-Design. The discussions delved into taking a collaborative approach to the design of educational facilities, how to create intergenerational spaces, and a thought provoking examination of co-design with community. Standby for another series of workshops in 2018! Our enthusiastic and dedicated team continued to grow this year as we welcomed new members. Valentina joined our interior architects early in the year along with Vera Betts adding further experience and depth to the administration team. Interviews are currently underway for Landscape Architects to bring this discipline in-house. Junior technical staff will be added to the Nowra office and Amber will be relocating so that our Batemans Bay office is manned full-time from January next year. As with any organisation, having the right people is key to our success. A highlight for our team was the annual retreat, this year held at Uluru which provided a rare opportunity to gain some understanding of how indigenous Australians live with the land and interact as a community. For the EJ team, the experience ingrained the importance of understanding the place and history of every site we are privileged to work on. It was an unforgettable experience and sets the bar high for future retreats! Lastly, we warmly wish all those that we have been fortunate to work with during 2017 a safe, happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.