Want to learn more about climate resilient design and building for your future new home or renovation?

With climate events subjecting our homes to more and more extreme conditions, many homeowners are asking me how to create a more climate resilient homes.

Learn more, as we talk about design options and rating tools to help you do this.

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Kate Cotter, Bushfire Building Council of Australia (now known as Resilient Building Council).

(You can listen to Part 1 here).

Hello! This is Episode 259, and in it, I’ll be continuing my conversation with Kate Cotter, CEO and Founder of the Bushfire Building Council of Australia – which has recently been rebranded as the Resilient Building Council.

With floods, fires, cyclones and general weather events subjecting our homes to more and more extreme conditions, many homeowners are talking with me about their desire to create a climate resilient renovation or new build.

If you haven’t listened to Part 1 of my conversation with Kate, head back to Episode 258 to listen to that now. You can grab the transcript, or listen to our conversation by heading to Episode 258.

In that episode, Kate introduces us to Fortis, a range of homes that were created with extensive community consultation, and experienced and expert collaboration, to help homeowners who are building or rebuilding after bushfire or other events such as floods and cyclones, or building in areas that can experience those events. 

It’s worth a listen to hear the core principles Fortis was created with, that can translate to any project to create a more resilient home.

In Part 2, we continue our conversation about Fortis, plus we talk about some other really amazing projects that Kate is working on with her awesome team.

Now, let’s dive in!

Before I jump into the episode, let me remind you about Kate Cotter, and the Resilient Building Council, formally known as the Bushfire Building Council of Australia.

Kate Cotter established the Bushfire Building Council of Australia (BBCA) in 2015 to reduce the impacts of bushfire disasters on communities by strengthening the built environment. 

Kate established the organisation to develop collaboration between experts, industry, communities and governments to motivate and reward disaster and climate adaptation.

The BBCA, which has recently rebranded as the Resilient Building Council, is an independent, not-for-profit organisation translating research into tangible action to reduce climate and disaster risk for households, communities, governments and industry.

Their members are independent bushfire resilience experts working to solve complex disaster risk problems with innovative tools.

We kick off this episode by continuing our conversation about Fortis homes, as Kate shares what you’re able to access online for free to create your own Fortis home, and the pathways available to you for building one. 

We also talk about the Resilient Star Rating Project and app Kate and her team are working on. 

Did you know that 90% of homes in high risk areas are not resilient to bushfire? – and this project is going to put information back into the hands of homeowners to help improve that situation.

In this episode, I ask Kate questions such as:

• Why prefab has been chosen as a delivery option for the FORTIS homes
• What inclusions and resources you can access in the FORTIS information
• The importance of additional information about maintenance and landscaping included in the FORTIS resources
• The Resilience Star Rating Project, and how it will help both those building, and wanting to retrofit their homes for greater climate and bushfire resilience and resistance.

With so much of Australia, of the world, being impacted by these events now, if you know someone who is needing support, please put them in contact with this podcast, and with the Resilient Building Council resources, so that they can access the right kind of help and advice when they’re ready to act on it. 

There are so many amazing people out there donating their time and expertise in helping people, and it’s been brilliant to share Kate Cotter, and the Resilient Building Council’s work with you here on the podcast.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

RESOURCES:

Bushfire Building Council / Resilient Building Council
>>> https://www.bbca.org.au/

Fortis
>>> https://fortishouse.org/

BBC Resilience Pilot Program
>>> https://www.bbca.org.au/retrofits/

Check out Season 12 ‘Rebuild and Build Better’ for many more episodes on building and renovating in bushfire prone areas, plus navigating insurance, finance and approvals >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast/season-12/

Access the support and guidance you need to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my flagship online program >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/

Learn more about how to get started with your home design with the Happy Home Design mini-course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/happy-home-design

Access my free online workshop “Your Project Plan” >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan