Rebecca Naughtin
Good afternoon and thanks for joining us for today's information session on part one of our part one documents for the architectural practice examination.
Sorry, we've had a couple of technical glitches, so I'll take a deep breath and we'll get stuck into there.
I'm Rebecca Naughtin.
I am an architect in here in Victoria, and I'm also the Victorian co-convener for the APE.
I'd like to first begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we live, walk and work, in particular the Bunurong and Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, and I pay my respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
Today's webinar has been produced by the ARBV and is aimed at candidates preparing for the architectural practice examination, known as the APE.
We'll answer questions at the end, so please submit any questions you have via the Q&A feature or through the chat function of this information session.
The focus of this presentation will be the architectural practice examination (the APE).
This presentation will outline the three parts of the APE process at a high level. However, the majority of the presentation will be going through the part one documents. The aim of this presentation is to provide candidates with a clear understanding of the documentation required to be submitted.
If, after watching this presentation, you still have questions, please direct them to the ARBV email, which will be provided on the last slide.
The presentation will only be available on the ARBV website by the end of this week.
So the APE is administered by the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia, the AACA, with assistance from the ARBV in Victoria.
The AACA is a body established by the state and territory boards to ensure national consistency.
The APE is a pre-registration pathway that is a prerequisite to registration.
The APE is conducted in three parts.
Part 1 is the logbook and the statement of practical experience.
Part 2 is the national exam paper, and;
Part 3 is the examination by interview.
It's important to note that to work as an architect or provide architectural services in Victoria, you are required to be registered.
This means after you successfully complete the APE, you should be applying for registration, if you intend to work as an architect in Victoria.
With the introduction of the 2021 national standard of competency for Arch, for architects for the APE, there are two new and expanded areas of knowledge not previously covered in the competencies.
These are understanding country and environmental sustainability, life cycle assessment and whole life carbon. These new areas have been incorporated into several performance criteria and this may be an area that was not covered in your
University education.
It is important to become familiar with the definitions and expectations of these competencies.
Please refer to the guidance documentation on the NSCA 2021 explanatory notes on the AACA website for further clarification.
Sorry, on this slide, we have just included the dates for the APE this year.
The final APE session will open to submission at the end of June.
Dates for the 2026 submissions are likely to be released in October or November this year.
We're going to now look at Part 1 Documentation. All of the details about what you need to do is in the APE handbook, which is available on the AACA website.
There is also additional resource material available, including video resources to assist in your preparation for the APE.
We encourage everyone to not only read the handbook prior to apply for the APE, but also look at the other resources available on the AACA website.
There are four components that need to be submitted at part one.
These include the logbook, the statement of practical experience, a statutory declaration and proof of your architectural qualifications.
We're going to go through these in detail throughout this presentation, with tips along the way. It's important to note that the part 1 process is usually to determine eligibility, to proceed through to Part 2 of the APE, you must ensure you have gained the appropriate experience and have included all of the required appropriate documents as set out in the architectural practice examination candidate handbook, which is available on the AACA website.
With the logbook, you are required to log 3,300 hours practical experience across 35 performance criteria from the national standard of competency relevant to part one of the APE.
You can read about the specific performance criteria on the AACA website.
You must include a minimum of 35 hours in each mandatory performance criteria and a maximum of 350 hours, in any one of the mandatory performance criteria.
You are now allowed to log 70 hours of non-project work against the mandatory performance criteria. This may include office management, office meetings which are not project related, office training and any learning experience and formal CPD for architects.
Practical experience may be gained in the following ways:
As an employee of an architectural firm under the supervision of an architect.
As an employee in a building design firm.
As an employee in a firm in an allied field in the construction industry.
In relevant government agencies.
Independently in a self-employed capacity.
Your logbook must include a minimum of two years practical experience which has been gained within the previous ten years. The two years practical experience can include no more than 12 months pre-graduation experience and no less than 12 months of post-graduation experience, which commences from the completion date listed on your academic transcript.
If you intend to include overseas experience in your logbook, you cannot include more than 12 months overseas experience, and you must also have at least 12 months logged experience in Australia.
12 months referred to in the requirements for the APE logbook, does not refer to calendar months, but are considered to be the equivalent of 1,650 hours.
You can only include projects that are less than eight weeks or 300 hours in duration. If the project hours logged have been accumulated while continuously employed with the same employer for more than eight weeks at full time equivalent.
With the logbook, you're required to log 3,300 hours of practical experience across all 35 performance criteria from the national standard of competency, relevant to part 1 of the APE.
You must use the online AACA logbook and once it's complete, export it as a PDF submission.
The details from this slide have been taken from the appendix 1 of the APE 2024 Candidate Handbook, produced by the AACA.
This can be found on page 31.
You should familiarise yourself with the performance criteria matrix to identify which mandatory criteria are applied to which part of the APE.
The units of competency are as follows:
Practice management and professional conduct.
Project initiation and conceptual design.
Detailed design and construction, documentation and;
Design, delivery and construction phase services.
These are then separated into performance criteria or PCs, and then they're assigned as a mandatory PC for a specific part of the APE.
So tips for completing the logbook.
Hours must be logged against the relevant and appropriate project and given project is determined by its site location regardless of how many stages the project involves.
Therefore, even if a project has two discrete stages that the site location is the same, this should be considered one project.
You cannot group logged hours across multiple projects to form a bundle.
Some PCs have multiple components to them.
Your minimum 35 hours per PC need to as a sum of hours cover all parts of that specific PC. As long as you have covered all parts of the given PC with a total number of hours you have logged against that PC.
Not every single hour you have logged necessarily needs to cover all parts of that PC.
Candidates who are applying for the APE after a successful completion of either the OQA or NPRA may leave the graduation date field in their AACA logbook profile blank, as long as you ensure that you've also provided evidence of your successful OQA or NPRA completion when you apply.
The red not entered that will appear on the first page of the exported logbook against the reported conferral date field will be overlooked.
Construction type refers to the construction materials, for example timber frame with CFC cladding, concrete frame etc.
Building class type refers to building typology. For example, residential, commercial, etc.
Before submitting your logbook, it's recommended that you check your logbook for consistency across all documents.
Ensure project names are consistent between your logbook sheets and statement of experience.
Check the topography in your logbook against what you've provided in your statement of practical experience.
The statement of practical experience, known as the SoPE by some, comprises of the following;
A one-page summary CV.
Project details pages.
Ape Performance criteria report.
References where required and verification signatures.
The first document in the statement of practical experience is the Summary CV.
The CV is not included in the word count and should be a one page summary of your professional experience, including personal information, qualifications and relevant employment history.
The CV should also include a list of supervising architects and their registration numbers.
The list of supervising architects should only include those architects, who supervised you on the projects included in your submission.
So on this slide, you can see an example of what a Summary CV would look like.
No, that not only. Sorry, I beg your pardon.
Note that only relevant information is provided and that the formatting is presented clearly.
Furthermore, the Summary CV does not include images, links to social media, or an executive summary.
Following the Summary CV are the project details pages.
This is where you can provide details on the projects from your logbook which best illustrate your application of the performance criteria.
The project details pages is a detailed account of your project experience and is expected to be 2000 to 3000 and not exceeding 3000 words.
It should include an outline of the brief project or the project brief, a detailed description of the level, type of practical experience gained in each of the APE part, one mandatory performance criteria, which demonstrates your understanding of the criteria.
Evidence that supports your claimed experience in the workbook.
Sufficient details for Part 3 examiners to appreciate the scope of work, costs, floor area and nature of construction.
There are three key elements for each project included in this section: the project brief, the project description, the verification statement and signature from the person who supervised you on the project.
Projects in this section must be drawn from projects in your logbook. You do not need to include every project from your logbook.
Any projects you include in the project details pages must appear in the PC report.
We will touch on this a bit later.
Pictured is an example of the information provided in the project brief. For each project you must specify the name of the project, the supervising architect, location, indigenous country, floor area, cost, building type, construction, procurement method, practice construction admin role, candidate responsibility, and logbook reference.
Pictured is what the main body of a project description might look like. In this section you'll have an opportunity to go into the detail about the project and your involvement.
Each project must be accompanied by the verification signature and statement from the architect who supervised you on the project.
It is your responsibility to confirm the supervising architect was registered in the relevant state or territory when they were supervising you.
If this is not possible, you'll need to provide a verification signatures of relevant supervisors, clients or professionals.
A signature is required for each project, even if it's the same supervisor for all projects included in your SoPE.
The supervising architecture can sign the verification statement digitally.
The APE performance Criteria report is not included in the wordcount and cross references your experience to the mandatory performance criteria.
The APE performance criteria report, and therefore the project details pages needs to address all 35 of the part one mandatory performance criteria.
This may mean you need to include a number of projects beyond 2-3 in the PC report as you need to ensure all projects included in the SoPE can be mapped against the relevant PCs. Not every project needs to meet all 35PC's, but collectively all the projects included in the SoPE need to address all 35PC's.
Make sure you understand the PC you are mapping against. For example, if the PC relates to understanding country, you should not be mapping it to that of an overseas project.
Ensure you are using consistent project naming between the PC report and the project detail pages and logbook.
If you are logging experience gained not as an employee of an architectural firm under the supervision sorry supervision of an architect, you must include references from 2 employers, or if you are self-employed from professionals within the construction industry, such as a structural engineer or a builder or two clients.
At least one of the references needs to be from a current employer.
The reference will need to note which projects the referee worked on and their role in the project.
There is more detailed information about this in the handbook and it's important you review this to understand who is eligible to verify your statement and any additional steps you may need to take.
You must provide proof of architectural qualifications in support of your APE application. If you have completed an eligible qualification, we require that you provide a copy of your academic transcript.
This will need to be the full transcript, not the graduation certificate. If you don't have this at the time of applying, we will accept other proof of your qualification with your application, but you still need to provide the transcript, before we can finalise your results for part one.
If you completed the Overseas Qualification Assessment (OQA), provide a copy of the outcome letter issued by the AACA.
If you completed the National Programme of Assessment (NPRA), provide a copy of the outcome letter issued to you by the AACA.
The stat dec attests to the accuracy of the part one documents you have submitted.
Use the APE stat dec available on the ARBV website.
Ensure the stat dec has been appropriately signed and witnessed by a person authorised to witness stat dec’s. Please ensure the person witnessing your declaration provides their full name, address and qualifications.
Do not attach the stat dec to the other part one documents. Submit it as a separate document.
The National Examination Paper, or NEP, is Part 2 of the APE process. This part of the APE is held at the same time nationally, and you must successfully complete Part 2 in order to proceed to part 3 of the APE. The exam is 120 minutes long, and contains 80 questions.
It is a scenario based exam with multiple choice questions.
The scenarios used in the exam are based on the national standards of competency for architects and are used to assess the candidates knowledge and application.
There are sample scenarios given to you to give you a better understanding of the structure of the exam.
These samples scenarios are available in Appendix 2 of the handbook.
Just a reminder for candidates who have a disability or other health related needs which might require adjustments to enable them to sit the national exam paper, you can apply for reasonable adjustments. Applications for reasonable adjustments must be submitted with supporting documentation to NEP@AACA.org.au on or before the closing date, the submission of the APE part 1.
The last part of the APE is Part 3, the examination by interview. I can see that I probably jumped ahead a slide. I do apologize.
The logbook and the statement of experience from Part 1, as well as your results from Part 2 are used to help the examiners direct the assessment.
We will contact you throughout the process to let you know what to do or if we require any additional information from you. It is also important to note that the examination by interview dates on our website are a guide. As the interview days are not scheduled until we receive results for Part 2. If you have any commitments or if you have submitted for the APE session, you will need to ensure you have availability during this time as we're unable to accommodate any requests. It is important to note that we are not just testing you on what you know. The questions you may get might be a gap in your knowledge or experience. You can also be presented with hypothetical situations, and this is all to test the candidate's knowledge and experience and to ensure that they are at an appropriate level to work as an architect in Australia. It is also important to understand that completion of the APE and part 3 do not mean you are registered. The APE is a pre-registration requirement.
Successfully completing the APE enables you to apply for registration. If you're intending to work as an architect, you must apply for registration.
So if you have any follow up questions, please contact the ARBV by e-mail as shown on the screen (registrar@arbv.vic.gov.au).
That's the end of today's webinar presentation, and I'll now review any questions that you've submitted by the chat, and I'm hoping that Fiona might even be able to help me out as well.
Fiona Gjoni
Hi, Rebecca.
Do you want me to read some questions out?
I have responded to one on there. If you can't see the Q&A feature and like you can just then maybe speak to them.
There's a question about the PC report.
Give me just a second.
I was just going to go and find that because I think that one's a good one to speak to. Somebody's asked are we able to include projects in our PC report that are not in our statement, but in our logbook, or must they only be projects listed in our statement?
Rebecca Naughtin
No. You can list those as well.
Sorry, go ahead, Fiona.
Fiona Gjoni
The PC report has to specifically be projects from that are in the statement. So your projects that are in your statement, the PC reports specifically has to relate to those.
You can't include ones from your logbook because the point of the PC report in that submission of your SoPE is to have the projects that you've listed meet all the PC requirements.
So that may mean that you need to include more projects in the SoPE to be able to tick off the 35 PCs that you need to.
Sorry.
Rebecca Naughtin
No, no, no, no, no.
It was a much better ending to my start there.
Fiona Gjoni
And then somebody's asked. Maybe this one's for you.
Somebody's asked, could you please expand on PC's 58 and 59 as they are not detailed in the explanatory notes?
Rebecca Naughtin
Well, I'm happy to go and have a look at that one.
Did you want to try another one? While I'm looking it up.
Fiona Gjoni
Sure.
OK.
There's a lot here, so sorry everybody.
I'm trying to look through them. Somebody's put in a question about confidential projects. So, they've asked about different stages, for a so several buildings at different stages within the same area. So the rule that we work with is that a project is based on the address.
So depending on what the project, how it's set up, if there are several buildings, I imagine they'd all have their own address.
So we don't like to do sort of bulk projects in there, unless there's specifically all on the one site, so I'm not quite sure.
Perhaps you might need to give us a call so we can clarify that with you.
The second part of your question you mentioned some things about confidentiality. You don't need to, if you say, you can tell us that something's confidential, and you can still report on that in your statement.
You can just state that it you're under a non-disclosure agreement or there's confidential nature to something and that's why you haven't provided some of those topography details that Rebecca mentioned earlier.
That's fine.
So you can do that.
Rebecca Naughtin
Going into those elaborating on PC's 58 and 59, I imagine these two are probably going to be heavily they could be heavily assessed against because, complete documentation, including specifications, drawings, schedules, reports, certification approval. So it's all of the documentation that you would complete to obtain a building permit. So that pretty much is all a lot of the contract documentation that you would be doing.
And then 59 is understand and mitigate risks associated with preparing and recording documentation.
So something like preparing site minutes, and then you would log the time in preparing the site minutes or anything to do with recording an adjustment for practical completion. Anything to do with adjusting, maybe the contract sum, but it's understand and mitigate risk.
So you're doing the paperwork to mitigate the risk, but you understand why you were having to do it.
Fiona Gjoni
So there's a question on here that I might throw to you.
If a candidate only has non project experience for a PC, how should that be included in the project pages, such that it can be ticked off in the PC report?
Rebecca Naughtin
Non project.
Fiona Gjoni
Which should be, yeah, yeah.
Rebecca Naughtin
So office, office.
I mean, it's certainly tricky because I suspect that like intuitively, the if you're doing a CPD that's under a, with a specific topic. I think that the way that it breaks up the hours anyway is that you can apply them.
So if you're doing a piece, if you're doing a CPD on fire safety in a building, then you'd find the appropriate PC that that would fall under, which might be something about the NCC and apply it there. But it would be under non project hours.
Does that make sense, Fiona?
Fiona Gjoni
Yeah, I think so.
I'm sure they'll ask another question if they need to clarify that.
A few people have asked about the 2-3,000 words, so just to mention that is for the totality of the SoPE.
It's not per project, so it's not 2000 words per project.
It's your entire SoPE statement of practical experience, should be 2 to 3,000 words.
Rebecca Naughtin
Don't, don't, don't. Yeah, don't do more than 3000 words because you're, when you get to the point of your interview, your examiners will be exhausted.
Fiona Gjoni
So hopefully I've answered a few peoples.
Rebecca Naughtin
They'll clarify any gaps that they might feel as though they have in your in your logbook.
Fiona Gjoni
So somebody's asked, can you please give suggestions on the type of things that might fall under PC49 if you are in a small practice that doesn't include having a team?
Rebecca Naughtin
49 to be able to implement project team structures necessary to deliver a full suite of professional services or partial services appropriate to the selected procurement process.
In a small team or as a single person, it doesn't matter if it's a large chamber or a small team, so you're still implementing a project team, if it's just a one person. And so if you were to, if, it is a much easier PC to cover if you were working in a larger team.
But yeah, I'd suggest that you'd say, well, one person can administer a contract, pending the procurement process, so you can still log that time under that PC.
Fiona Gjoni
Thank you.
There's a question in here which I've just lost.
Hopefully I can find it again, but it was asking about whether you can, whether you need the academic transcript or basically the test, if you’re in Victoria, we want the transcript purely because, particularly over COVID and things like that, people graduated at a different time to when they actually completed the course.
And so it actually is to your benefit to provide us the transcript 'cause we'll accept the date, of course completion, not the date of graduation.
So that's why at ARBV, we request the transcript.
You can submit without the transcript if you're still waiting for it, but you will need to provide that to us shortly after you've made your application, so hopefully that answers the questions that people are asking.
There's quite a lot of questions.
I don't know if you can see the Q&A function.
Rebecca Naughtin
Yeah, I I can. I can.
Fiona Gjoni
I'm I'm.
Rebecca Naughtin
I'm gonna start from the top and then work down here.
But where where I'm at the moment, but yes, you can put incomplete projects in the in the project details page definitely.
You do need to get your supervising architect to sign, but a digital signature is fine.
Fiona Gjoni
So, someone's asked about the less than 300 hours. That was a rule in the past, that we sort of strictly in enforced it.
You still have to have at least worked for the same employer continuously, so it doesn't need to be the same project.
But if you just started working there and you're including a project and the project is less than 300 hours, then it can't be included, so that that only goes for really new employees to a particular organisation, but if you've worked somewhere for a long period of time and at the time you're submitting your documents, there is a project that you've just started and it's less than 300 hours. You can include that if you want to. Hopefully that answers those questions.
Rebecca Naughtin
There is, there's a question here about logging, some candidate has a logbook hours without using allied industry hours, but also has extensive experience and allied industry.
It is completely up to the candidate on what one they want to log, as long as they have the supervising architect sign or have the reference from the structural engineer or the clients or whatever it is.
But what, as a tip, as an examiner, I'd suggest that you would include project work, that is, that gives you, shows breadth and understanding and application of the performance criteria.
So if you've got a really exciting project that was done outside an architect’s office, by all means include that.
Fiona Gjoni
Somebody's put a question in here about, you know, the types that will, what projects can you include?
You know, should it only be your most recent?
Can you exclude projects from previous workplaces?
You definitely can.
So it's the, the whole point of this is you're meant to be tailoring what you're submitting to demonstrate to the examiners, that you've got the experience that you need, and you should be showing a range of experience. So whatever you think is going to best demonstrate the experience that you have and the range of experience, that's what you should submit.
So if you, that means you're going to exclude some things, definitely exclude it.
You can have up to, experience from up to 10 years ago, so you know anything within that range.
Definitely include recent like some recent projects, so that you know we don't see that your experience is just from five years ago, but it's certainly up to you what you include.
Rebecca Naughtin
There’s a question here about PC1 being quite vast and seems to be running in the background of a lot of other PC's.
Fiona Gjoni
Yeah.
Rebecca Naughtin
This it's not just PC1 that does this. A lot of the PCs overlap and it's, there's a lot less duplication in this standard than there was in the previous one.
But what it does allow is for the candidate to have some, I guess some creative opportunity to, to apply what they think is the most appropriate PC.
So understand the regulatory requirements and obligations pertaining to practices, and architects, including professional codes of conduct, obligations for continuing professional development and professional indemnity insurance. Well with that one, you would be talking about client architecture agreements for example and perhaps what is included in a client architect agreement.
Fiona Gjoni
Bec, somebody's asked about PC-35, so I thought maybe you could speak to that.
They said I've never been asked to report on embodied carbon.
What else counts towards this criteria?
Sorry, I think I'm throwing you a, some tough one.
Rebecca Naughtin
Yeah, we're tech tech problems to start with and then some hard questions.
All right.
So and like you know, there's no black and white answer for some of these questions, but with this one here, to be able to assess operational and embodied carbon implications of materials.
So what specifically about the question Fiona?
I'm. I'm I'm.
Am I assuming that the candidates, the question is wondering about how to actually obtain hours under PC-35.
Fiona Gjoni
I think so.
They're saying they've never been asked to report on embodied carbon.
So what else would count towards the criteria? That's what they've said.
Rebecca Naughtin
Yes, yes, yes.
So you can discuss, so you probably, I think this is actually a really interesting question. I don't think that a lot of candidates probably realise that they are applying this kind of knowledge, like it is in intrinsic in our, in our education that you choose materials that you'd like to hope are better for the environment before you know it, you're actually, you are actually assessing whether or not there are embodied carbon implications materials, like you understand if they're coming from overseas.
So, if you are logging hours around the specification of a product, then there are projects that will require a relevant consultant, so this is not actually asking the architect to be able to do the full assessment. This is saying that the architect should be able to know how to get that assessment done. And a lot of products already come with those kinds of assessments.
Fiona Gjoni
All right. I'm just taking the easy questions for myself.
Just cruising along here.
Somebody's asked about how to pay and how to apply for part 1 and that sort of thing.
So lots of details on our website. So I’ll direct you to the ARBV website.
There's a whole page on the APE and at the bottom of that page it says, you know, click here to apply.
It'll only be available to do that on the date, so once the application's open, so have a look at the date section so the next session opens on the 23rd of June.
So it will become available in the portal on that date, so you'll just have to sign in if you aren't already, and the fees for Part 1 and 2 are a combined fee of $670. If you for example, were not to pass Part 1, you'd get a refund for the Part 2 component.
The Part 2 fee is only if you are resubmitting, for Part 2, if you've previously been unsuccessful, and that's why there's a separate fee for Part 2.
But when you're first applying, you're applying for Part 1 and 2, which is that $670 fee.
Rebecca Naughtin
I'm just going to elaborate here on PC42, which is to be able to prepare planning applications that are compliant with planning regulations.
The candidate has asked, can you log our hours against this competency, if your project is exempt from planning approvals, ie school and defence projects? The school and defence projects will have their own regulatory background.
And whether it is citing for fire specification 43 anything like that, they're the hours that you can log against 42.
Fiona Gjoni
There's a question from somebody about the OQA.
We don't want your official, your overseas transcript.
We just want your OQA result letter, so if you're overseas or anything like that, the same goes for if you're, say, doing the NPRA, you just need to provide the AACA letter.
For you know, your acceptance through that process, either OQA or NPRA. That's what you provide to us.
Then Bec, somebody's asked, there's a few questions about PC1. Have you spoken about PC1?
Rebecca Naughtin
Yeah, that was the, that is the regular the professional codes of conduct obligations. So that anything to do with the way that I normally think of it is, a client architecture agreement what's included in the client architecture agreement and then also our professional code of conduct.
So is there is, I did cover one earlier, just in breadth, is there another specific one?
Fiona Gjoni
I saw it, but I've lost it now.
Rebecca Naughtin
That’s alright.
Fiona Gjoni
There's so many sorry everyone.
They’re like all coming in at the same time, and so when they come in, we lose them on the screen, or at least I'm losing them on my screen.
So I'm trying to keep track of which ones they've answered and which ones I haven't, but feel free to put in it again or I'll see if I can find it.
Someone's asked, does the SoPE need to be in timeline order? Not necessarily.
I mean, you can do it in sort of whatever order you want.
You'd probably put the summary CV in order of where you worked, but you wouldn't need to do the projects in in a timeline order.
I think I’ve answered that question?
Rebecca Naughtin
There's two here.
They're quite, some similarities, but should you include an address or, I beg your pardon, sorry, where should candidates put their justification for including experience not going down to the supervision of an architect?
So that will be in your statement, that you will be like, it'll be obvious to the examiners, but you would describe that in your statement and in your CV it'll become very apparent that, it wasn't done underneath the under the supervision of a registered architect.
Fiona Gjoni
There's at least two questions that I've seen where people are talking about logging over 350 hours for one PC.
You can continue logging hours, but it's just they'll only count a maximum of 350 hours per PC, for the purposes of the logbook.
I mean, I would be tailoring my logbook to just, you know, meet the requirements.
So you know, it's really up to you if you want to go over the 350.
We will see if it comes out, you know that it's not green. So, it's saying you're not eligible, or not that you're eligible if it comes out with the yellow line to say that something's wrong with it. We'll check and see that you've met the requirement.
So you could theoretically still submit that to us and we wouldn't, you know, prohibit you from proceeding in the APE just because the colour coding in the logbook was wrong. As long as you met the minimum requirements in there.
So you can certainly log more than 350 hours per PC if you wanted to.
And, I probably wouldn't, but it's up to you.
Rebecca Naughtin
I wouldn’t either. I think you'd probably find another PC that you could like apply that you could find.
Fiona Gjoni
Yeah.
Rebecca Naughtin
Yeah, you could find. It is a good question here from Joel about some of the PCs using including language, vague language or even at times hyper specific wide net language.
Fiona Gjoni
OK.
Yes.
Rebecca Naughtin
Yes.
And they do take a bit of time to read and the way that I think of this as on balance. So if you can meet a PC on balance.
It's really difficult to to meet every single component.
But on balance then, that would be the relevant PC for for whatever you're logging against. And in your interview that will be clarified.
Fiona Gjoni 44:32
Someone's asked about a project that stops and starts over a few years.
Should you put the original commencement date?
Yes, you should always put the original commencement date and then if this is for the purposes of just your logbook, just log the time as it's happening in terms of that. It's not complete. If you were to then include the project in your SoPE I would then probably have some explanation of what's happening with the project that it's stopping and starting in there so that it's understood why it's taking so long.
Someone else has asked about does the board have a preference for how many projects are included in the statement?
No, you're going to need to include enough projects that will cover off all 35 of the PC's.
So that will really be dependent on your projects. You could get it done in three projects. It could take 6.
It really its entirely up to you.
So we don't have a preference at all.
Rebecca Naughtin 45:26
There's a there is a really hard question here.
About how can I log hours against assessment of tenderers PC51 if we were not engaged by the client to take on this role. So the PCs to be able to provide advice to clients and lead or contribute to the process of selecting a qualified contractor in accordance with the agreed procurement method and construction contract.
That to me is that you would.
Candidates need to have a project where they've been able to provide advice and lead a procurement process.
Even if it's all novated, that whole being part of that conversation is would you would be able to log hours if you were leading, or if you were contributing to that conversation.
But I mean, ideally it is beneficial even if you're in a D&C still preparing like documentation for a contract of some kind, so you should be able to log something under 51, under those kind of ideas.
Fiona Gjoni 46:45
Somebody has asked on the CV can you include jobs that haven't been that haven't been logged against. So six month contracts working in construction.
I would say yes, you can include them because if some meant to demonstrate where you've worked, you can't introduce. You know you shouldn't start talking in your summary CV about experience gained there because you're not.
It's not in your project brief and it's not in your logbook.
But you can certainly list that you've worked or been employed in certain roles.
That's the purpose of your summary CV. So I think that's OK.
Rebecca Naughtin 47:22
If work is done under a registered architect in a developer developer firm, you can and can't be logged under supervising architect or will that be allied field? You are being supervised by an architect, so you can use that and have architects signature.
Fiona Gjoni 47:45
And somebody's asked about addressing executive or observer during the interview. Executive and Observer and participant are no longer, those levels are no longer considered in the APE.
So they won’t be addressed specifically, so you know you're not going to include them in the logbook, you're not going to include them in the statement, and they're not going to necessarily be addressed in that way for the purposes of the interview.
So I wouldn't be focusing on that for the APE anymore.
Rebecca Naughtin 48:14
Architects that you work with can sign your Stat Dec for you.
That was an easy one.
Fiona Gjoni 48:20
Yes, that was a very easy one.
So someone said in regard to 12 months.
So they're asking about the 1650. So somebody says if It says 1650, but if someone was to not take leave and not work overtime, would that equate to more?
Yes, perhaps it would.
But we wouldn't accept more. The limits are in there for a reason. We're not allowed to tell people to be working overtime and not to take leaves so.
It's worked off of what this this standard is in Australia of what people are allowed to do, so we wouldn't even if you did that, accept more than the designated hours. So don't do that, take leave and don't work overtime.
Rebecca Naughtin 49:16
Oh, this sounds a good one for you, Fiona. If I studied in the UK for a Bachelor of Architecture and finished Master of Architecture in University of Melbourne, do I need overseas qualification assessments for my bachelor degree?
Fiona Gjoni 49:29
No, you do not.
Because only the masters counts.
So yeah, we only care about the qualification that's that is the threshold to apply, and that's the masters.
So that would be your degree that you got at Melbourne.
Rebecca Naughtin 49:48
If I if I've been working for, say, 10 years on complex projects that cover all but of the two newly introduced PCs, country and embodied carbon, what would be the best way to approach it?
You look at the PC and you find what on balance you can log against, but I highly recommend then and that you seek the right, you know, upskilling in those two particular areas through not just by, there's so much information on the AACA website about that and in the explanatory notes as well.
With those two PCs, there's there's a lot there, and you probably find that there are ways that you will be able to log against those particular PCs.
But yeah, just do the research so that you ready for your interview.
Fiona Gjoni 50:50
I think Rebecca answered this question earlier in a different way, but somebody's just asked about, you know, working for an entity that's not an approved architectural company or partnership.
That being supervised by a registered architect within that employer.
Yes, that still counts as supervised, being supervised by an architect.
For that purpose, so that's fine.
There's a handy little.
Sort of chart.
I think it's on page.
17 off the top of my head in the APE Handbook that goes through, you know.
Whether you're working for an ally in an allied field or you're working for an architect.
So I'd suggest everybody have a look at that, because I think that's quite helpful.
I think we've got time for maybe like one or two more questions before one. I'm just trying to make sure we haven't missed anything big.
Rebecca Naughtin 51:50
There there, there's a lot of questions.
Fiona Gjoni 51:53
There's a lot.
Rebecca Naughtin 51:54
Can I include my CPD as hours in my logbook?
Yes you can under non project hours.
Projects I've worked on are ECI type projects. When I log hours on PC57 and 57 is the the hard hitting that the really heavy the heavy lifter for project, for contract administration. Yes, you can log hours in ECI as long as you have been involved in any of those items.
Processing monetary claims.
Project variations, extensions of Time, project instructions and require and request for information, practical completion or other administrative functions explicit in the selected procurement method and associate construction contract.
Fiona Gjoni 52:54
Rebecca, did you speak about PC53 advice to client?
On procurement methods, because I've got two, OK, because there's another question in here.
Rebecca Naughtin 53:00
Yes, I did.
Fiona Gjoni 53:03
So I wasn't sure if you which one you'd answered.
Oh, actually, I think they might be from the same person.
So maybe maybe you did answer.
Rebecca Naughtin 53:15
How would a graduate get experience in PC?
53 that being one of them. Well, I mean.
Fiona Gjoni 53:20
Yeah.
Rebecca Naughtin 53:23
If a graduate like I imagine a graduate is is able to, investigate the different contract type for a project.
And in fact, should be involved really in, you know, in at least be able to review a contract for a project so.
Well, it is the expectation of what a graduate would do.
Fiona Gjoni 54:00
Yeah. And I think I think the question was in in regards to not having, you know, the observer participant and executive levels. Well, you know, experience being supervised and participating in, even if you're just sitting there, still can count towards you understanding what's required of you in being able to do that.
And so that's the whole point that you know, the questions that you're asked might be hypotheticals doesn't mean that you've necessarily ever done that.
You need to be able to know what you would do in the situation so.
I think that's also important, particularly for Part 3.
Somebody's asked about complex projects.
I know that the handbook says that you know, you should think about having or you should include complex projects, but it's not actually a requirement, so it's not something that's required to be ticked off that you have complex projects.
So if you've only worked in single residential, that's completely fine. For the purposes of the APE you're not required to log complex projects.
Rebecca Naughtin 55:05
That is probably a great way for us to wrap it up. Residential projects are quite often the most difficult projects and most complex projects because you're dealing with all of the your clients and everything, so emotions are much more right up there.
Fiona Gjoni 55:23
Yeah, I think we can end it there. If anybody else has any questions. I know we didn't answer every single question, you can give the ARBV a call, send us an e-mail and we can speak to you individually about your circumstances.
So, but yeah, thank you for everyone's time.
Thank you, Rebecca, for your presentation.
Rebecca Naughtin 55:44
Pleasure. All the best to all of the candidates.
Fiona Gjoni 55:48
Thanks everybody.
Updated