Special Reports

Quay West Resort Bunker Bay is a five-star resort consisting of 150 luxury villas located adjacent to the sheltered Bunker Bay beach in the Margaret River region.

It doesn’t happen often, that a state government minister and their direct political opponent find themselves agreeing with each other.

Gary Baverstock from Ecotect-Architects, who has been designing and promoting ecologically sustainable design for more than 20 years, says it has taken consumers too long to realise the benefits of sustainable design.

Architects HASSELL have won the commercial building award for their involvement in the design and construction of a high technology pharmaceutical production plant for Chemeq Ltd in Rockingham.

Awarded for its work in the multiple dwelling category, the ‘Fremantle Cold Storage Ltd’ site (now named Fletcher Mews) is a 101-apartment Homeswest housing precinct with a strong link to the history of the Fremantle site on which it stands.

Celebrating their 74th year in 2005, the WA Chapter Architecture Awards provide an annual showcase for the skills of Western Australian members of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA). See Special Reports for related articles.

Having worked on the Perth Town Hall refurbishment for nearly a decade, conservation award winner, Cox Howlett and Bailey Woodland’s Bret White, is delighted that the recently completed four stages of refurbishment will allow the building to be better ut

There is no one single, simple solution to the skills shortage faced by SMEs and business in general, says Sean Gavin from Gavin Construction, but what he suggested as a starting point was an integrated, multi-pronged approach by government and industry.

An innovative design for St Brigid at Mercy College Koondoola by Murray Slavin has won the top award for interior design at this year’s awards.

Make no mistake about it, more and more small and medium businesses will start to disappear from the WA market, because big business is squeezing out the little guys.

Based in the Faculty of Architecture at UWA, Simon Anderson was asked to design a light, warm, open and low-maintenance house addition that made use of the whole site while preserving garden space for the children.

Takeovers of major industrial companies have thinned the pool of powerful chief executives in Western Australia.

Western Australia has 27 members and senators in the federal parliament, and while some are very good at generating headlines, there is a group of five who are clearly the most influential.

The debate over the future of Western Australia’s retail sector has provided a keen insight into political and community influence in the state.

July 12 will be a major milestone in corporate Western Australia. It’s the day Michael Chaney will end his remarkably successful 13-year term as managing director of the state’s biggest industrial company, Wesfarmers.

This is the fourth year in succession WA Business News has profiled the most influential people in politics, government, business and the community in Western Australia.

The boardroom coup at the WA Cricket Association last September was headlined by new president Dennis Lillee, but standing with him were three prominent business figures, who were also elected to the WACA board.

In contemporary government, the reality is that political advisers with direct access to ministers wield far more influence than traditional public service advisers.

Two recent Australians of the Year, Professor Fiona Stanley and Dr Fiona Wood, head the list of influential people in the field of science and technology.

Unionists, lobbyists, party powerbrokers and industry associations are just some of the many behind-the-scenes influences on government policy making.

If money equals power and influence, then Perth’s prominent private business owners must rank as some of the state’s most influential people.

Geoff Gallop and Jim McGinty are the two dominant figures in the Labor governments that have held power since February 2001.

This year’s list of influential executives in the resource sector has two defining characteristics – it’s a long list and it’s dominated increasingly by multinational companies.

There have been minimal changes on the Labor side of politics since the Government won re-election at last February’s state poll, but there have been enormous changes on the Opposition side.

The editor of Western Australia’s only daily newspaper, The West Australian, heads the list of opinion leaders in the state.

The lean state of the Liberal Party in Western Australia following its February election loss is reflected in the small group of people wielding influence in the party.

This time last year, Rugby WA chairman Geoff Stooke and cricket legend Dennis Lillee were not regarded as major players in the running of sport in Western Australia; but that changed with a vengeance late last year.

John Langoulant has undergone a big change over the past year, moving from his role as under treasurer to become chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA.

The property and construction industry has created many powerful and influential Western Australians, none more so than Multiplex founder John Roberts.

The two most influential public servants in Western Australia, newly appointed Under Treasurer Tim Marney and Acting Director General of Health Neale Fong, are both far removed from the traditional image of career bureaucrats.

Not everyone was filled with nostalgia when Boans Ltd closed its doors at 1pm on Saturday April 12 1986.

One way of examining Western Australia’s record on tax is to compare overall business taxing level here to regimes in other states.