(Above Image: Cronulla High School, Building M. Photography: Schools Infrastructure New South Wales)
It’s been a stellar year for Fulton Trotter Architects, with exciting new projects underway, outstanding award wins and a growing FTA team in our Brisbane and Sydney offices. Let’s look back at the year that was!
The new year saw plenty of major milestones for the Fulton Trotter team in January with Director Greg Isaac reaching 37 years at Fulton Trotter Architects, Director Paul Sekava marking 28 years, Justine Ebzery reaching 28 years and Ryan Loveday marking 18 years at Fulton Trotter Architects.
In February, as part of our commitment to environmental sustainability, Fulton Trotter Architects developed a draft Sustainability (or Regenerative) Action Plan that encompasses our existing sustainability goals that address both systems and design approaches. These goals are key to our project planning and include reducing operational carbon, minimising embodied carbon, managing water sustainably and more.
Directors Katerina Dracopoulos and Justine Ebzery were invited to showcase their work and celebrate female excellence in architecture in March. The Female Fellowship Exhibition was held in conjunction with Hassell, Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) and International Women’s Day and recognised and honoured the achievements of female fellows in architecture.
Our first intake for 2024 Moss Learning also began with students excited to learn about construction detailing.
In March, we also celebrated Paul Trotter as he transitioned to a teaching role at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Close to 50 staff, friends, family and special guests gathered to wish Paul well and reflect on his career journey.
We also expanded our Studio Management team with Paige Booth joining as Communications Lead and Annette Blakeney as Studio Support.
In April, Director Paul Sekava and Associate, Erin Dawson were jury members for the prestigious AIA Queensland Chapter’s 2024 Greater Brisbane Regional Awards.
Plus, the FTA team enjoyed plenty of Easter fun with an in-office Easter raffle gearing up in Brisbane.
May saw an exciting award-winning month with two commendations in the Australian Institute of Architects Queensland Chapter’s 2024 Greater Brisbane Regional Architecture Awards for our Satellite Hospital project in collaboration with Architectus Conrad Gargett and our Potter Building at All Hallows.
The acclaimed Potter Building was also awarded a Library Design Award 2024 by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)
This month we also held our first Fulton Trotter Forum for the year on “unlocking land value” in Brisbane and the newly completed Eight Mile Plains Satellite Hospital opened its doors.
June saw an amazing State Commendation for our Redlands Satellite Hospital at the AIA 2024 Queensland Architecture Awards at Brisbane’s Town Hall. Designed in conjunction with Architectus Conrad Gargett, the Redlands Satellite Hospital, ‘Talwalpin Milbul,’ received a Commendation in the Public Health Architecture category.
We also held a Roundtable Discussion on “unlocking land value” at our Sydney office in Surry Hills. Guests heard from The Hon. Rob Stokes, town planner Michael Rowe and Fulton Trotter Director, John Ward on the barriers and opportunities for clients looking to unlock land potential.
In July, the Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse revitalisation project at Point Danger was officially completed with an opening event in Tweed Heads and Stage Two at San Damiano College in Yarrabilba was also completed with an opening blessing ceremony at the College.
Work on the Fulton Trotter Architects’ GrandSchools design concept also continued following exciting media coverage by News Reel on the topic.
July also saw our annual EOFY parties – an FTA tradition, with Brisbane gazing into the stars for a horoscope-themed evening and Sydney warming up for the Fulton Trotter Games.
Construction on our project at Cronulla High School was complete in August (image above: Schools Infrastructure New South Wales) and saw additional teaching spaces as well as a new canteen and staff facilities added to the school.
August also saw our work on the Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse featured in the Australian Design Review.
Our Moss Learning Gap Filler course began for the second intake for the year with Director Ryan Loveday teaching new students and early graduates the fundamentals of construction detailing.
Fulton Trotter also welcomed Submission Coordinator, Gabriela Chiele to the team in Brisbane and our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was officially endorsed by Reconciliation Australia.
September was an exciting month for the Fulton Trotter Team with Senior Associate, John Hay celebrating 30 years of service and Student of Architecture, James Churchley joining the team in Brisbane.
In Surry Hills, Graduate of Architecture Ali Khan joined the team and Architect Syed Zaman welcomed a beautiful baby boy, Kareem with partner Betul.
In October we held our second Forum for the year, this time highlighting “Designing for neurodiversity,” to unpack emerging ideas in the built environment sector.
We also held a fun night of speed networking with Parlour’s The Vine program which saw architecture graduates chat with mentors from six architectural practices to learn more about a future in architecture.
Student of Architecture, Lizzie Yarnall joined the team in Brisbane, and we welcomed back Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) student Alex Hughes for a short stint in our Interior Design team. While in Sydney, Hannah Gascon joined the team as a Student of Architecture.
In November, our work on the multi-hall at the Springfield Anglican College was finally complete with additional general learning centres and two indoor sports courts for the growing school.
Our Surry Hills team also grew with Mayoh Associates Jonathan Henley and Melodie Kaplan joining Fulton Trotter Architects alongside Mayoh’s Interior Designer Alveena Fenessy and Graduate of Architecture Rafaella Bioza to continue growing our practice’s specialised education portfolio.
In Brisbane, Director Katerina Dracopoulos celebrated 20 years at Fulton Trotter Architects and Architect Coco Leung joined the team. Plus, as an FTA tradition, the team supported Wesley Mission Queensland’s Red Bag Appeal to help those doing it tough this Christmas.
After an exciting year, the Fulton Trotter team look forward to reflecting on the success of 2024 with Christmas parties to celebrate and ring in the new year.
