Welcome to the first Lote Notes Newsletter for 2023. The new year brings with it a unique set of challenges, while at the same time offering a myriad of opportunities, prime among these being introspection and continuous improvement. The team at Lote is excited to present a range of articles for your consideration and feedback, reflecting industry trends and reflections on our practice. This edition of Lote Notes contains articles on the Design & Building Practitioners Act and Regulation in practice, designing to manage the risk of graffiti vandalism, and our 5 steps to getting your business ready from a cybersecurity perspective. Our wellness column proposes a mindset for getting things done.

The Design and Building Practitioners Act (2020) and Regulation (2021) introduced a raft of changes to better regulate the design and construction of buildings in NSW with the objective of delivering better quality and safety outcomes for owners and occupants of these buildings. Our article NSW D&BP Act in Practice: A Fire Engineering perspective reflects upon our experience in implementation of this new licensing and regulatory framework and the impact that it has had on projects, timelines, scope, duty of care and design contracts.

Graffiti vandalism is a common sign of urban decay in our cities, and is often associated with decreases in the perception of safety and an associated increase in crime and antisocial behaviour in our communities. Our article, Designing out Graffiti takes a designers perspective on what can be done about this issue, proposes strategies in line with CPTED methodologies as well as material selection and operational security policies to mitigate the damage.

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting networks, systems and programs from attack and aims to address the risks posed by one of the most rapidly escalating crime categories. Our article on the 5 Steps to Develop a Cybersecurity Plan for your Business is essential reading for all business operators. Taking these 5 steps will start you on your cybersecurity journey and ensure that your business digital assets and infrastructure are secure.

Finally, our wellness column features an article on approaching each task and project with the expectation to get to good enough before improving. Often, an expectation of perfection creates a barrier to getting started, where procrastination and endless research consume our time, rather than the actual task at hand. The proposed approach employs the Pareto Principle and encourages you to expend minimal effort in order to get to good enough and then to use feedback from peers and mentors, as well as a process of iteration to improve. Here's to getting things done!

We look forward to receiving your thoughts and feedback.



Best Wishes & Stay Safe
Dr Maher Magrabi

CEO
Lote Consulting | Fire Safety & Security
Making the world safe and secure

 

The Design and Building Practitioners (D&BP) Act was enacted in June 2020, and established a new licensing and disciplinary framework for building practitioners involved in the design and construction of buildings in NSW. The D&BP Regulation 2021 details the rules for implementing the procedures of the Act and sets out specific requirements for licensing, registration and ongoing professional development required of building practitioners.

 

 

• Increasing the involvement of Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) in reviewing non-standard fire safety design proposals;
• Creating an independent checker role to assess installed fire safety measures before buildings are occupied;
• Improving documentation of fire safety measures by standardising documentation and simplifying amendment processes; and
• Mandating procedures for the maintenance of fire safety measures.

 

 

 

 Did you know that he areas of the house where most fires occur are the kitchen, sleeping areas, and lounge area?