Episode 310: Robert Sobyra from BuildSkills Australia on how to fix our building industry skills shortages

Engineering has traditionally been understood as a discipline focused on solving technical problems—designing structures, calculating loads, moving people and water, generating and distributing energy, and ensuring the infrastructure around us works safely and efficiently. But that role is changing. Engineers are increasingly asked to think beyond individual assets and projects—and instead consider how infrastructure interacts with cities, communities, the environment, technology, energy syst...

Clinton Cole is a boundary-pushing architect and builder who believes we can all be a force for good. With industry-leading expertise in regenerative design, he creates premium homes that actively repair damage to our planet and give back to future generations. In the same spirit, he puts ethics and responsibility front and centre at CplusC, one of only five Australian architects to earn B Corp certification. Clinton holds two degrees in Architecture and is a registered Architect, a licenced...

In our first Shortcast in over two years, we talk with Will Messiter, Chief Operating Officer - Residential Communities and Home Building at Sekisui House Australia, at the company's manufacturing and assembly facility in southwest Sydney, about house building, the bottlenecks in Australia's building market, and how prefab and modular can offer a solution to our house affordability woes.

As operational energy efficiency improves, attention is increasingly turning to embodied carbon—the emissions associated with extracting raw materials, manufacturing products, transporting them, installing them, and, ultimately, dealing with them at the end of their useful life. That puts materials and material innovation firmly at the centre of the conversation. Jonathan Mountfort, Creative Director at Autex Acoustics, has more than two decades of experience across design a...

Tara Veldman, Managing Director and Principal at Billard Leece Partnership, has played a major role in growing BLP’s health architecture practice and has worked across hospitals, health hubs, research facilities, education precincts, and other complex environments. In 2025, Tara was named the inaugural recipient of the Australian Health Design Council Gold Medal, recognising her leadership and contribution to healthcare design in Australia and internationally. Her approach is part...