{"id":3297,"date":"2023-01-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/?p=3297"},"modified":"2023-01-04T13:41:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T03:41:02","slug":"bushfires-the-future-of-housing-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/bushfires-the-future-of-housing-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Bushfires & The Future Of Housing Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How bushfires may shape Australian housing design<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The devastation caused by bushfires have become a regular, unfortunate part of the Australian climate. Communities impacted watch (somewhat helplessly) as their properties, wildlife and vegetation are engulfed by flames. It\u2019s unlikely bushfires are going to stop anytime soon, but with the intensity of them increasing, coupled with the effects of drought and extreme temperatures, it\u2019s clear there are further challenges ahead in terms of adapting and ensuring communities are equipped to better withstand the impacts. While steps have been taken in Australian housing architecture to better enable resilience and cope with bushfires, there is still a way to go…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples of bushfire resistant house designs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Designing houses to better withstand bushfires isn\u2019t a new concept \u2013\u00a0Glenn Murcutt was among one of the earlier architects<\/a>\u00a0to incorporate bushfire resistant features into his house designs in the 70s through to the 90s. Some of Murcutt\u2019s innovations include black ceramic house tiles that reflect radiant heat; conspicuous sprinkler systems, and leaf shedding gutter designs.

More recently, architect Ian Weir has also devoted much of his practice to designing bushfire resistant homes. Growing up in Tasmania, Ian witnessed vast amounts of land clearing in attempts to reduce bushfire risks, leading him to become an advocate for innovative design as the solution to building bushfire resistance, rather than land clearing.

Mr. Weir\u2019s Apex Point house in Tasmania is one of the most effective types of bushfire prone housing \u2013 the house itself being airtight with a non-combustible roof, toughened windows, and fireproof cladding means there are no catch points for an ember to ignite the whole house.

Another one of Mr. Weir\u2019s acclaimed designs is the\u00a0H House located in Point Henry, Western Australia,<\/a>\u00a0which has windows made of double glazed fire resistant glass and fire shutters which can also be used to control light and insects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why haven\u2019t more fire resistant houses been built?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After seeing the many instances where bushfire prone homes have been built, it raises the question on why the adoption of features has been somewhat slow. The cost to build these have been one factor that have hindered the growth \u2013 for example the Apex Point house designed by Ian Weir cost $515,000<\/a>, however this structure comes in at the higher end of the scale. They can be affordable<\/a> though, with Clare Cousins\u2019 Hinge House costing $270,000.

This was one of the designs selected and built out of the Victorian bushfire recovery authority\u2019s \u2018We will rebuild\u2019 initiative.

In addition to cost, another factor that has possibly dampened the increase in bushfire resistant homes is the designs themselves. According to CSIRO bushfire adaptation research leader Justin Leonard, a completely fireproof house would essentially need to resemble a concrete box<\/a>  \u2013 where a fire could pass through it with the house remaining fully intact, but it wouldn\u2019t be one that would be much fun to live in the rest of the time. This has also been pointed out by Ian Weir, who highlighted that many of the designs proposed in the \u2018We will rebuild\u2019 initiative<\/a> were too \u2018prototypical\u2019 \u2013 residents in these area wanted conventional looking houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking forward\u2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It has been predicted that the severe bushfires of early 2020 were just a glimpse of what is to come<\/a> as global temperatures rise. This demonstrates the need for architecture to adapt accordingly with increased focus on designing dwellings better equipped to withstand bushfires. According to Justin Leonard<\/a>, current policies rely heavily on vegetation clearing, but what is needed is balance.

Susannah Schulz from Lockhart Designs<\/a> highlights the need for architects to bring these discussions in front of clients:

\u201cIt can be difficult explaining these elements of risks to clients, because quite often all they hear is ‘this will add to your build cost’. I believe if we just do the research beforehand, and can specify the costs involved, but also the potential costs saved – that is our best option as their professional designers.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it means for insurance:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When designing bushfire proof houses, architects must take the same due diligence to ensure their clients\u2019 expectations are met. For example, in incorporating fire resistant features into a design, it might be easy to overlook other areas and make a design error of another sort leading to a professional indemnity claim. Keeping up to date with council regulations is also important \u2013 regulations can change quickly and architects need to ensure they\u2019re staying up to date with latest developments, and what they\u2019re designing and any materials recommended are in accordance with recent codes. Professional Indemnity Insurance in such instances is just as important as any other situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was contributed by Aon Insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can find more information at: https:\/\/business-insurance.aon.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original article source: https:\/\/business-insurance.aon.com.au\/sme-talk\/professions\/bushfires-and-housing-design<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How bushfires may shape Australian housing design The devastation caused by bushfires have become a regular, unfortunate part of the Australian climate. Communities impacted watch (somewhat helplessly) as their properties, wildlife and vegetation are engulfed by flames. It\u2019s unlikely bushfires are going to stop anytime soon, but with the intensity of them increasing, coupled with the effects of drought and extreme temperatures, it\u2019s clear there are further challenges ahead in terms of adapting and ensuring communities are equipped to better withstand the impacts. While steps have been taken in Australian housing architecture to better enable resilience and cope with bushfires, there is still a wayRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":934,"featured_media":3300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false},"categories":[35,2,29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/934"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3297"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3301,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297\/revisions\/3301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}