With the end of 2017 closing upon us, many people often reflect on achievements or significant changes over the year, and contemplate what the new year will entail. 

This past year saw the election of a new CAA Chair and some changes in the CAA Board.  Allan Partridge (Next Architecture) is the new CAA Chair and Cameron Veres (Dialog) is the new Treasurer.  Three additional board members were also elected – Liam Woofter (Kasian), Jan Steingahs (HOK) and Eddo Cancian ACI).  Returning board members are Paul Byrne (OPNA), Heather Bretz (Stantec) and Linus Murphy, Past Chair (S2).

Fond farewells were shared with outgoing CAA Board members Ron Nemeth (ACI) and Terry Hartwig (Hartwig Architecture).

Some of the CAA’s highlights for this year included AAA and CAA working together on RFPs, having a seat on the AAA Advocacy Committee and the incoming CAA Chair presenting to the AAA Council in November.  The CAA also presented to a city in B.C. about the CAA and how it works. 

2017 also saw a continuation of working with public clients about contract issues. This included contract wording, issues with honourariums, timelines for RFQs and RFPs and more.  We have also requested and attended numerous contract issue-specific meetings, which includes the University of Alberta, the City of Edmonton, the City of Calgary, NAIT and Alberta Seniors and Housing, to name just a few.

The CAA committees remained active throughout the year, most especially the Procurement and Contracts Committee, which meets each month.  The CAA Fee & Scope Committee will re-activate discussions for Version 4.0 of the CAA Fee and Scope document.   

Looking forward, our focus will also include shifting towards inclusion of individual registered architects and our younger generation to helping them understand the business aspect of architecture.