Strata Impact 2024 Conference Highlights for Strata Managers

The inaugural Strata Impact Conference was held last week to critical acclaim by the 100 plus delegates. Organised by Dr. Nicole Johnston of Strata Knowledge, this was a classy event with high quality presentations by experts in their fields sharing impactful research and education about strata.  The conference is set to become the premier annual learning event on the Australian strata calendar for strata professionals and allies. 

From a strata managers perspective here are my top 5 take aways –

1. Passive fire protection defects are rife and are largely being ignored, particularly in Queensland and Victoria according to latest research by conference founder and organiser, Dr Nicole Johnson. Suggested action - strata managers should be looking for penetration registers and passive fire safety product information at the handover of new buildings and make sure contractors keep the penetrations register up to date throughout the life of the building. 

2. Mould is a serious risk to life and health in apartment buildings and the likely cause is the building not occupant behaviour according to Dr Tim Law.  Suggested action - when mould appears, strata managers should be engaging an Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) to advise rather than a building biologist or hygienist. 

3. There are four indicators of a successful meeting according to organisational psychologist Robert Newman- 

• Meetings are productive and on time‍
• Participants feel like they can contribute‍
• Priority decisions are made in the meeting
• Meetings fulfil Body Corp requirements, both legal and operational

The best thing strata managers can do to achieve better outcomes at general meeting is to learn how to become more professional at acting as chairperson and apply rigid protocols to structure meetings. This will be more effective for managing dysfunctional or difficult strata meetings than training and counselling of committee members. Suggested action - at the end of each meeting the meeting be evaluated according to the 4 indicators of success and identify one thing that could be done better next time. 

4. There is demand for more sustainable apartments in Australia, but what gets built is not necessarily what people want according to research by Professor Hazel Easthope, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW. She presented evidence form Domain that apartments with sustainability features sell at a premium. https://www.domain.com.au/news/sustainability-the-surprising-feature-that-could-fetch-you-an-extra-125000-when-you-sell-1147020/

Suggested action - strata managers can use this information to help persuade people to invest in retrofitted sustainability infrastructure. 

5. Automated building inspections are available combining thermal imaging, digital analysis and artificial intelligence to detect defects, imperfections, corrosions, and water penetrations in buildings for under $20,000 according to Stephen Thornton of Voltin. According to strata managers present this would obviously be beyond the reach of many smaller schemes but for large high rise and mixed-use developments worth $80 M and without proper construction records this expenditure would help deliver informed, quality outcomes for preventative maintenance. Suggested action – investigate cost -v- benefit outcomes for this type of service for large high rise without proper construction documentation. 

Let us know if you would like more information about the implementation of any of these ideas and watch out for the date for 2025 Strata Impact Conference by Strata Knowledge. You won’t want to miss it.