Chris Shields has worked in social housing for the vast majority of his architectural life starting 23 years ago. Initially working for the Department of Housing (then called the Ministry of Housing) from 1984-93, Shields started working in the aged care housing branch, then went across to family housing. He was seconded to work on Melbourne’s housing shelters from 1986-91 which included work on Gordon House (formerly in Southbank and later moved to South Melbourne), The Gill Memorial Home (Melbourne CBD), and the St. Vincent de Paul Shelter in Flemington Rd.
I didn’t know what a night shelter was, and the first inspection of these properties shocked me. I became very committed to the notion of developing appropriate housing and attractive accommodation for people that had that need,” he recalls.
Shields embarked on further study to fully understand housing for homeless people, including what their psychological and physical needs were, and how that would translate into a built form. He was awarded an RAIA scholarship for a study tour on services to the homeless, and visited properties in the United States (west coast, mid-west), Canada (Vancouver, Toronto), France, Netherlands, England, and Scotland, as well as Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart/Launceston, and Adelaide.
He produced a report on the building forms, sizes and standards of accommodation, and tried to get a reference point for what people felt was appropriate for Melbourne. One of the conclusions he drew was that Australia was well advanced in terms of the services being provided, but the standard of accommodation left a lot to be desired. Many dwellings were unchanged since the day they were built.
"While I had some early experience with private architectural firms, the move into the Department of Housing was a great environment to follow through on my ideals of developing design that would fulfil a social purpose," he says. "There was a period of time that I was lucky enough to be a part of where delivering quality architecture was the standard. This was before a period in which tendering, efficiency, and economic rationalism became the priority."
Chris launched his own practice, CMS Architects in 1993. He became a non-executive director on the Community Housing Ltd board in 1994, and was made Chairman in 1996.
"Community Housing Ltd has emerged as one of Australia's leading housing associations based on a long term strategy to deliver quality housing at an affordable rent in which tenants have long term security," he says. "Further, the Board has the benefit of working with a Managing Director who is a leader in the affordable housing industry."