Chair: Jennifer Castaldi
Design and heritage architect, Jencas Architect
Jennifer is a Newcastle based architect with experience in design and planning in urban, regional, and remote areas. She specialises in heritage projects which encompass assessments and recommendations for conservation works for places of local, state, and national significance. Her projects cover residential, institutional, and industrial sites as well as national parks and coastal environments. Jennifer believes that heritage conservation is directly associated with sustainable building practice. She enjoys collaborating and learning from clients, consultants, and contractors. She started her professional career in Katherine in the Northern Territory where she has developed an understanding of cultural and physical environmental challenges and opportunities. She has also lived and worked in Darwin, Fremantle, and Sydney.
Chair: Alice Hampson
Founder and director, aha
Alice Hampson is a heritage architect with a speciality in cultural heritage significance and a particular expertise in mid-century. A graduate of the University of Queensland with first class honours, she was awarded both Board of Architects Prizes and the QIA Medallion. Hampson is an Adjunct Professor at UQ, an RAIA Life Fellow, honouree member of both AIA and IRAC, Chair of the National Heritage Committee, a past Member of the Queensland Heritage Council, and she sits as the heritage expert on the IEP for Arts Queensland. She was National President of RAIA 2020-2021, and 2021 National Architecture Awards Chair.
Speaker: Nigel Bertram
Director, NMBW Architecture Studio
Nigel Bertram is Practice Professor of Architecture at Monash University, and Director of NMBW Architecture Studio, established in Melbourne with Marika Neustupny and Lucinda McLean in 1997. Their architectural work has been widely published and awarded across categories, including urban design, single and multiple residential design, small public works and adaptive re-use of existing buildings. NMBW's work is known for its careful reading of existing conditions, at both an urban scale and the scale of individual inhabitation. Within the Monash Urban Lab he leads research projects on design-led processes for urban regeneration and retrofitting of existing environments.
Speaker: Clare Kennedy
Founder, Five Mile Radius
Clare Kennedy is an architect and founder of Five Mile Radius, a Brisbane-based design and fabrication studio focused on circular construction, material reuse, and heritage adaptation. Her work explores how local materials, low-carbon methodologies, and traditional building techniques can intersect to create architecture with a strong sense of place. Clare has led numerous projects that blend conservation and innovation, including the award-winning Matso’s Sunshine Coast Brewery, where heritage fabric and reclaimed materials were integrated into a contemporary hospitality venue. Clare is committed to helping the architecture industry shift toward decarbonisation through practical, site-responsive strategies.