This project aims to review existing building requirements and building guidelines for a range of natural hazards across Australia, with a particular focus on New South Wales (NSW).

This project aims to review current building standards and guidance in relation to multi-hazards across Australia with a particular focus on New South Wales (NSW). The project aims to analyse existing building requirements and guidelines for bushfire, flood, coastal erosion, inundation, sea level rise, heatwaves, tsunami, storm, landslide, cyclones, earthquakes, drought and tornadoes across Australia. The project will also consider national and international best practice standards for building and construction to address multiple hazards and identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.

To achieve this, the project will:

• analyse whether current standards should be expanded beyond existing applications (e.g. extending cyclonic controls further south or bushfire controls beyond 100m from mapped vegetation)
• analyse necessary building elements required under different hazard conditions
• identify best practice building standards, materials and designs applicable across different states and territories
• analyse how building elements and systems of these elements work together for different hazards
• analyse testing methods of building elements for structural integrity under multi-hazard conditions and ensure potential reoccupation after a natural hazard
• investigate the impact of exceeding test limits, comparing catastrophic failures with gradual failure (or fail-safe design).

• Email: research@naturalhazards.com.au