Resilience in Action: Brisbane’s Flood Resilient Homes Program

Resilience in Action

Over the last 6 years, the Flood Community of Practice has used tools like the Fluvial Transect of the Brisbane River floodplain as a framework for discussions and co-design of pathways to build resilience to floods and develop catchment-based solutions in Queensland.

The Flood Resilient Homes Program is a great example of practical action being taken at the household level. As one of the many catchment-based actions promoted by the Fluvial Transects, this program for urban residential adaptation is the focus case study for this livestream event. The program is designed to better equip residents to prepare for, live through and recover from overland flow flooding events.

The program is an initiative of Brisbane City Council, delivered in partnership with its sustainability agency, CitySmart. For the past two years this voluntary program has been trialed in locations across Brisbane that have a history of overland flow flooding. It consists of a free in-home service, tailored recommendations, and an incentive scheme that provides financial assistance and project management for those properties where building or design improvements have been recommended.

Progress on this pilot so far has seen:

  • undertaken 225 Home Services assessments,
  • completed resilience works at 71 properties and
  • have a further 74 property owners who have opted in for works.

Joining us on this Livestream Event on 28 May were colleagues from:

  • Local Governments – Brisbane, Bundaberg, Central Coast, Gold Coast, Geelong, Port Phillip, Wellington, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Moreton Bay, Noosa, Somerset, Sunshine Coast, Townsville
  • Consultants – Alluvium, Aquobex, Arcadis, Arup, Aurecon, BMT, Cardno, Cook Consultancy, E2Designlab, EcoEngineering, Horton Coastal Engineering, Reid Water, Rivereach, HARC, JDA Co, LJ Carroll, Geolocarta, Resilient Projects, SLR, Water Technology, WMA
  • Insurance – 11eight, Auto & General,  Commonwealth Bank, IAG, ICA, Munich Re, RAB, Suncorp, Sure Insurnace,
  • State Government – DES, DNRME. DPIE, IGEM, QBuild, QRA,
  • University  – ARI Griffith University, CQU, CRCWSC, QUT,
  • Water Utility – Melbourne Water, SEQWater
  • Other – AWA, City Smart, Envirobuisess International, Healthy Land & Water,

LivesStream Presentation Team

A rich introduction to this Resilience building program was provided by:

• Will Kershaw – Senior Engineer, Brisbane City Council – who led the design of the program and fund it

• Jane Holden – Senior Manager, Program Delivery at City Smart – who co-ordinate the delivery of the program

• James Davidson – Principal at JDA Co. – who carry out the free in-home assessment of a property’s flood-resilience and recommended works to increase the flood resilience;

• Tom Yabsley –Director, Evolved Construction – A builder who is carrying out flood-resilient incentive works.

For further details on each speaker – click here 

Response to the various questions during the event

Click here to read about those not answered in the presentation