Global Membership Council Profile: Geoffrey R. Mitchell, JP, FRICS, LFAIBS.

Geoff Mitchell of Australia (left) at the Global Membership Council meeting in 2012.

Geoff Mitchell is Chair of the ICC Global Membership Council and one of the most active building control, inspection and code professionals in Australia. He began his career as a Cadet Building Inspector for the Albert Shire Council, Queensland, Australia in 1976. After 12 years of working for local government, Mitchell founded GMA Certification, a private certification company that performs building approvals, inspections and building regulation advice. He has been a qualified building inspector since 1980. Since those early days, Mitchell has helped develop code legislation for the state of Queensland, still serves as a representative on the Building Codes Committee of the Australian Building Board, and as an educator for building surveying practitioners at local universities. Through his experience, Mitchell has become a strong advocate for national and international building codes and control standards, which also led to his involvement with the ICC Global Membership Council. Mitchell strongly believes that building codes should be shared more broadly around the world, adding, "For the most part, every country is reinventing the wheel when it comes to codes. We spend so much money and time on the process, when the basic template is often much the same. We can raise the building code bar around the globe with the introduction and acceptance of a truly international building code." While the development and acceptance of international codes is one of Mitchell's primary areas of focus, he is most proud of his work in education. As national president of the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) from 2000-2002, Mitchell helped develop current education criteria for Building Surveyors and the National Accreditation Framework that is currently used for training building officials at technical colleges and universities throughout Australia. He is an Adjunct Teaching Fellow at Bond University teaching the Building Controls and Regulation course. He also has written and presented numerous papers both nationally and internationally on the building surveying profession. Mitchell was elected as a Life Fellow of AIBS in 2010 for his commitment to the organization as a past national president and state president as well as his knowledge and experience in pursuits connected with the profession of building surveying. He has a bachelor's degree in Building Surveying, a graduate certificate in Building Fire Safety, and a master's degree in Urban Planning.

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