Friday, 23 October 2026
Gandel Hall, National Gallery of Australia
Kick off the National Festival of Design Conference 2026 with a day focused on the forces reshaping our businesses, buildings and industry. Day One explores the changing business landscape, the future of building performance, electrification and the realities of building a stronger and more successful practice. Hear from industry leaders and innovators as they share new thinking, practical knowledge and experiences that challenge how we work, design and build.
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM Registration
All attendees must register on arrival to collect their lanyard - required for entry to conference sessions and events. Registration also includes your Festival goodie bag.
Opening Addresses
9:00 AM President Welcome
Darren Evans
President
Building Designers Association of Australia
9:10 AM Acknowledgement of Country
Canberra By Design
9:20 AM Keynote Address
Tone Wheeler
Architect, author and educator Adjunct Professor, UNSW
Keynote Topic: History of Canberra Setting the tone
To look forward, sometimes we need to look back. By tracing the evolution of sustainable home design, this session considers how our understanding of better buildings has changed—and where it needs to go next. From passive solar principles and electrification to building science, natural materials and biophilic design, we’ll explore a more holistic, regenerative approach that enables people and planet to flourish.
Australia's Housing Future
9:50 AM Keynote Address
Tim Reardon
Chief Economist Housing Industry Association
Keynote Topic: Economic Landscape
Where approvals, starts, finance costs and materials pricing are heading into 2027, and what that means for the pipeline of work landing on building designers' desks.
10:20 AM Panel Discussion
Panel Topic: Australia's Housing Future - Challenges, Choices and Collaboration
Three perspectives on the same problem: the regulator, the builders and government. This panel looks at what actually has to change for Australia to build the homes it needs, where the real constraints sit across code, capacity and approvals, and how industry and government can work together to shift the numbers. Moderated by Chris Knierim, Chief Executive Officer of the Building Designers Association of Australia.
Adrian Piani
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Building Codes Board
Darren Disney
National Director, External Affairs and Engagement
Master Builders Australia
James Bennett
Executive Branch Manager
ACT Government
Chris Knierim
Chief Executive Officer
Building Designers Association of Australia
11:00 AM - 11:30 AM Morning Tea
Rethinking How We Build
11:30 AM Keynote Address
Lance Worrall
Industrial policy specialist and co-author, prefabAUS Industry Roadmap
Keynote Topic: Building Smarter - A National Mission for Australia’s Future
12:00 PM Keynote Address
Jennifer Snyder
Founder of House of Bamboo and President of the Bamboo Society of Australia
Keynote Topic: Bamboo in Hybrid Construction: Where It Fits Today, and Where It's Headed
Current non-structural applications, then the path to structural adoption
12:30 PM Keynote Address
Talina Edwards
Co-director of Envirotecture
Keynote Topic: Reimagining the future of healthy-homes
To look forward, sometimes we need to look back. By tracing the evolution of sustainable home design, this session considers how our understanding of better buildings has changed—and where it needs to go next. From passive solar principles and electrification to building science, natural materials and biophilic design, we’ll explore a more holistic, regenerative approach that enables people and planet to flourish.
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Lunch
Designing for resilience
1:45 PM Keynote Address
Ben Alexander
Former Wallaby turned business owner and mental health advocate
Keynote Topic: Designing for Resilience: High Performance Decision-Making, and Business Growth
The phrase ‘trust the process’ is most famously associated with an NBA Team Philadelphia 76’s General Manager Sam Hinkie. It’s a phrase centred around focussing on the process rather than the outcome because outcomes are sometimes out of your control. I think this mantra applies well when trying to improve your marketing and brand awareness of a design / building / development company. By putting in the work and trusting the process the results will follow but it is not often a 1:1 transactional arrangement. During this session we will explore what that process looks like. Here we will work through how you improve the brand of your business with relevant stakeholders, improve your public profile and make sure that you have a seat at the table.Collapsible text is great for longer section titles and descriptions. It gives people access to all the info they need, while keeping your layout clean. Link your text to anything, or set your text box to expand on click. Write your text here...
Trust in the age of AI
2:15 PM Keynote Address
Shane Martin
Director, Nexus APAC
Keynote Topic: Trust The Process
The phrase ‘trust the process’ is most famously associated with an NBA Team Philadelphia 76’s General Manager Sam Hinkie. It’s a phrase centred around focussing on the process rather than the outcome because outcomes are sometimes out of your control. I think this mantra applies well when trying to improve your marketing and brand awareness of a design / building / development company. By putting in the work and trusting the process the results will follow but it is not often a 1:1 transactional arrangement. During this session we will explore what that process looks like. Here we will work through how you improve the brand of your business with relevant stakeholders, improve your public profile and make sure that you have a seat at the table.Collapsible text is great for longer section titles and descriptions. It gives people access to all the info they need, while keeping your layout clean. Link your text to anything, or set your text box to expand on click. Write your text here...
2:45 PM Keynote Address
Professor Toby Walsh
Leading authority on artificial intelligence
Keynote Topic: Faking It: What AI Really Means for the Design Profession
Generative AI can render realistic concepts in seconds, draft technical layouts, and automate complex workflows. But as machine intelligence increasingly simulates creativity, where does true human expertise begin and end? In this keynote, world-renowned AI authority Professor Toby Walsh cuts through the tech hype to unpack what artificial intelligence genuinely means for the future of building design. Moving beyond empty buzzwords, Professor Walsh explores how AI will reshape professional workflows, alter client expectations, and redefine value in the built environment. Delegates will gain a clear, grounded perspective on how to leverage emerging digital tools without losing the human ingenuity, authenticity, and spatial judgment that form the core of great design.
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM Afternoon Tea
Building with confidence
4:00 PM Keynote Address
Neil Savery
Former CEO
Australian Building Codes Board
Keynote Topic: Product Conformance and Digital Traceability
Building Designers, alongside other key actors in the building products supply chain, play a key role in ensuring materials, products and systems used in the construction of buildings are fit for purpose. The National Building Products Coalition, which is a whole of supply chain affiliation of industry organisations dedicated to advance the National Building Products Assurance Framework, has developed materials to help support manufacturers and practitioners in understanding what information will assist in determining that products are fit to be used for their intended purpose and how the emerging space of digital product traceability can help provide the ‘golden thread’ of information to help verify product claims. This all points to product specifiers having a key role in driving change within the industry.
4:30 PM Conference Day 1 Conclusion
6:30 PM National Networking Event at The Dairy Road Precinct
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