Building in resilience

By - , Build 137

Increasingly frequent extreme weather events have escalated insurance costs. BRANZ is involved in two projects working to identify how to improve the resilience of buildings.

BEFORE THE Canterbury earthquakes, approximately 94% of adverse event insurance claims in New Zealand were for storms, severe floods, snow and landslides. Storm and flooding damage alone is estimated to have cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars over recent years.

It is a similar situation in Australia, where cyclone, storm and flood damage has had a devastating effect. In 2011, extreme weather events, including Cyclone Yasi and the Queensland floods, caused damage to over 4,000 homes and 3,000 commercial properties, estimated at over $5 billion.

Homes are at risk

Despite being built in areas of risk, New Zealand’s housing stock has limited resilience and is often compromised by poor maintenance and repair, as shown by the BRANZ House Condition Surveys. Our buildings need to be made more resilient to extreme events.

Although a considerable amount of theoretical and practical research has been carried out overseas into the resilience of buildings, materials and components, substantial gaps in knowledge exist, including:

  • how extreme weather events influence buildings, materials and components
  • how buildings can be made more resilient
  • how maintenance can increase resilience and extend the life of materials and buildings.

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Research into materials and design

Building on the development of the BRANZ durability verification and residual service life tools, current research is delivering risk profiles and developing guidelines on materials and design. These will inform stakeholders about improving the resilience of both new and existing dwellings.

The research involves robust investigations into the resilience of buildings and structures, considering the material and building characteristics, property characteristics, external elements, geographical location and combinations of hazards.

More information on the effect of maintenance on the service life of materials will also be developed to allow more quantitative service life assessments to be made.

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Developing a resilience rating tool

The work will also support the on-going development of the Australian Resilience Taskforce Building Resilience Rating Tool. This has been established by the Insurance Council of Australia and is led by Edge Environment.

The increased frequency and the destructive effects of these hazard events has led to the Insurance Council of Australia investing in the development of the Building Resilience Rating Tool, identifying the need to improve the resilience of Australian residential properties against natural weather hazards.

Initially designed for residential properties, the Building Resilience Rating Tool has recently been launched to inform homeowners, local authorities, planners, building professionals and insurers of the resilience of homes to a broad range of hazards, as well as encourage homeowners, home buyers, home builders and property professionals to adopt improved material selection and design.

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Tools that are appropriate to New Zealand

The involvement of BRANZ researchers in this project will assist the on-going development of tools and solutions that are appropriate to the New Zealand hazard exposure profile and consider New Zealand dwelling types, housing stock diversity, communities, current maintenance practices and building condition.

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Understanding effects on the elderly

BRANZ is also contributing to the CRESA-led research programme Community resilience and good ageing: doing better in bad times. The 2-year research programme is funded by MBIE and deals with improving responses for older people and their communities when they are confronted with adverse natural events.

It will identify how older people’s dwellings and domestic living conditions can be made more resilient and how ageing in place and positive ageing can be integrated into crisis preparation, crisis response and recovery pathways.

The research asks how we can:

  • help older people meet the challenge of these events
  • improve the ability to restore older people’s homes and communities
  • help older people regain and maximise their independence afterwards
  • use the skills of older people to participate actively in crisis and recovery responses
  • develop tools and information to help make older people, their homes and their communities more resilient.

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Answers will lead to solutions

Through the building resilience research, the community resilience programme and involvement in the development of the Building Resilience Rating Tool in Australia, current and future hazards will be better understood, with improved information on mitigation strategies for individual buildings.

Solutions and tools will be developed during these projects to encourage the industry, homeowners and property professionals to adopt improved material selection and design.

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