Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program

Find answers to your most frequently asked questions here.

Program information

What is the Brisbane City Council Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program?

The Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program (the Program), is an initiative of Brisbane City Council, delivered in partnership with Brisbane Sustainability Agency. The Program is designed to help qualifying apartment building bodies corporate prepare, respond, and recover quickly from flood events.*

Brisbane City Council is aware of the impact of flood events on apartment buildings. For example, flooding in basements can cause apartment building occupants to experience periods of isolation and building services outages. This Program includes a free Building Resilience Assessment and a personalised Flood Resilience Recommendations Report. The assessment will evaluate the flood resilience of your apartment building’s services. Initially, assessments will be offered for apartments with building services located in basement areas. The report will contain building and design recommendations that could improve your building’s flood resilience. It may include recommended actions that bodies corporate can take before and during a flood event. Uptake of these recommendations could help the building bodies corporate, and the building occupants prepare, respond, and recover quickly from flood events.

Initially, assessments offered under this Program will focus on building services located in apartment buildings with basements. However, we encourage bodies corporate responsible for managing apartment buildings without basements to register for the Program. By registering for the Program, you will receive free Flood Resilience resources which will provide guidance on understanding your flood risk and ways you can prepare, respond, and recover quickly from flood events. Your details will be added to our customer enquiries database, and should the eligibility criteria for the assessment change, you may be invited to receive additional assistance in the future.

*In this Program, ‘flooding’ is defined as flooding from overland flow, creek or river water sources which is defined under the ‘Flood information’ section.

Program eligibility and outputs

Options	Current Eligibility Criteria	What you will receive
Register for the Program.	(1) the apartment building is located within the Brisbane City Local Government Area.	Flood Resilience Support Information. Details placed in a customer enquiries database for possible future Building Resilience Assessments.
Participate in the Program and receive a Building Resilience Assessment.	(1) the apartment building is located within the Brisbane City Local Government Area, (2) the apartment building has a basement,* and (3) the apartment building has a 50% chance of overland flow and/or creek flooding or a 1% chance of river flooding each year, or was impacted by the February 2022 severe weather event.**	Flood Resilience Support Information. Building Resilience Assessment. Flood Resilience Recommendations Report.

*We encourage bodies corporate that manage apartment buildings without basements to register for the Program.
** You do not need to know your flood risk or history before registering or, to receive the free Flood Resilience resources.

Who can register an apartment building for the Program?

Bodies corporate can register for the Program if:
·         The apartment building is located within the Brisbane City Local Government Area

Bodies corporate can register and are currently eligible for a Building Resilience Assessment if:
·         The apartment building is located within the Brisbane City Local Government Area.
·         The apartment building has a basement.
·         The apartment building has a 50% chance of overland flow and/or creek flooding each year, or a 1% chance of river flooding each year or was impacted by the February 2022 severe weather event.

You can register your interest in the Program at www.sustainablebrisbane.com.au/floodwise-apartments. Brisbane Sustainability Agency will place your details in a customer enquiries database and will contact qualifying bodies corporate to book their free Building Resilience Assessment. When you register for the Program, you will receive free Flood Resilience resources which will provide guidance on understanding your flood risk and ways you can prepare, respond, and recover quickly from flood events.

Alternatively, for more information or to register your interest in the Program, contact Brisbane Sustainability Agency directly by calling (07) 3007 7013 or emailing floodwise@sustainablebrisbane.com.au

How do I find out if I have a 50% chance of overland flow and/or creek flooding or a 1% chance of river flooding impacting the property each year?

This will be assessed by Brisbane Sustainability Agency. You do not need to know whether you meet this eligibility criteria prior to registering for the Program. You can register your interest in the Program at www.sustainablebrisbane.com.au/floodwise-apartments

How do I register for the Program?

You can register your interest in the Program at www.sustainablebrisbane.com.au/floodwise-apartments or by contacting Brisbane Sustainability Agency through calling (07) 3007 7013 or by emailing floodwise@sustainablebrisbane.com.au

Who is Brisbane Sustainability Agency?

Brisbane Sustainability Agency is a subsidiary of Brisbane City Council, dedicated to delivering sustainable programs, projects and events for the city. Brisbane Sustainability Agency will deliver the Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program, on behalf of Council and will engage technical specialists and building professionals to undertake the Building Resilience Assessment at qualifying apartment buildings. Brisbane Sustainability Agency will provide a Flood Resilience Recommendations Report and complementary Flood Resilience resources which will assist apartment building occupants to prepare, respond and recover from flood events.

What is flood resilience?

Flood resilience is the ability to plan, prepare, respond and return to normal life with minimal disruption following flooding. Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program will not stop flood waters. Flooding is a natural process and can occur anywhere. Brisbane’s location on a floodplain, along with its sub-tropical climate and unique land features mean that residents may experience flooding in their lifetime. Improving the flood resilience of an apartment building should enable the building occupants to withstand and recover from flood events, whilst supporting everyday liveability and quality of life. When flooding occurs, flood-resilient apartment buildings should experience less disruption to the building’s services. Building for flood resilience can assist apartment building occupants to adapt and prepare for future flood events and to recover quickly with minimal disruption.

What is flood-resilient design?

Flood-resilient design prepares buildings to withstand and recover from flood events, while supporting everyday liveability and quality of life. It considers the use of materials, construction methods and the style of the building. By implementing flood-resilient design measures, apartment building occupants can actively mitigate or minimise the effects of flooding, including disruption to the building’s services. Flood-resilient design minimises the likelihood of apartment building occupants losing access to the apartment building and the loss of communal materials (such as waste bins and chemicals), which could become hazardous floating debris during a flood event. Flood-resilient design empowers bodies corporate to easily clean flood-affected areas, allowing building occupants to quickly move back into a building, with minimal long-term disruption. Flood-resilient design is one way Brisbane residents can be better prepared for flooding.

View a list of flood resilience strategies for homes that showcase many different design techniques.

What are flood-resilient materials?

Flood-resilient materials are non-porous, water-resistant and easy to clean following flooding. Seek advice from a qualified trade contractor to see what flood-resilient materials would suit your needs.

View a list of flood resilience strategies for homes that showcase many different design techniques and materials.

Will implementing the resilience recommendations flood-proof my property?

No. Building for flood resilience will not stop flooding, but rather aims to mitigate or minimise the effects of flooding, including impacts to apartment building services. Strategies included in the Flood Resilience Recommendations Report should allow the occupants of an apartment building to prepare for, respond to and recover quickly after a flood event.

Flood information

What is overland flow flooding?

Overland flow is excess rainfall runoff from homes, driveways, and other surfaces. Overland flow flooding is water that runs across the land after rain, either before it enters a creek or waterway, or after rising to the surface naturally from underground. Overland flow flooding tends to affect localised areas rather than the whole city at once.

What is creek flooding?

Creek flooding happens when intense rain falls over a creek catchment. Run-off from houses and streets also contributes to creek flooding. The combination of the existing water flowing through the creek, heavy rainfall and run-off causes creek levels to rise.

What is river flooding?

River flooding happens when widespread, prolonged rain falls over the catchment of a river. As the river channel reaches capacity, excess water flows over its banks causing flooding. River flooding downstream can occur hours or days after the rainfall has finished. River flooding may coincide or exacerbate flooding in adjacent creeks and tributaries and may itself be exacerbated by higher than normal high tide conditions.

What is the Flood Awareness Map?

The Flood Awareness Map is a free online interactive mapping tool accessible via: https://fam.brisbane.qld.gov.au

The Flood Awareness Map provides general flood levels (including historic flood events) and flood maps for the Brisbane Local Government Area. The Flood Awareness Map can be used to locate the FloodWise Property Report for your property.

What is the FloodWise Property Report?

Brisbane City Council’s FloodWise Property Report is a technical report to guide planning and building in Brisbane. It will help you understand flooding risk on a property as well as applicable historic flood levels and survey levels so that you can build in accordance with Brisbane City Council’s planning requirements in CityPlan.

These reports are publicly available and provide property-specific information on estimated flood levels, habitable floor level requirements and more technical information and development flags on the sources of flooding applicable to your property.

To access a FloodWise Property Report, go to the main page of Council’s Flood Information Online.

Further program information

What is a basement?

As per Brisbane City Plan 2014, ‘basement’ means a space (a) between a floor level in a building and the floor level that is immediately below it; and (b) no part of which is more than 1 meter above ground level.

Is it compulsory to participate in the Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program?

The Program aims to promote and support the benefits of flood resilience strategies for flood-affected apartment buildings. As a free service Council strongly encourages bodies corporate to consider their relevant flood resilience options. Participation in the Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program is, however, voluntary.

I have registered my interest in the program. What happens next?

After registering, Brisbane Sustainability Agency will send you your free Flood Resilience resources and check your eligibility to participate in a Building Resilience Assessment. If you are eligible, Brisbane Sustainability Agency will contact you. Any registrations considered not immediately eligible under the current program eligibility criteria, will be added to a customer enquiries database, and may be contacted in the future should the eligibility criteria expand.

I have been contacted by Brisbane Sustainability Agency and agreed to participate in the Building Resilience Assessment part of the Program. What happens next?

After you register for the Program and Brisbane Sustainability Agency has confirmed your eligibility, the next steps are:

1.      Brisbane Sustainability Agency will provide you with a consent form to sign.
2.      Brisbane Sustainability Agency will contact you to book your Building Resilience Assessment with the assessor. You will be asked to complete a pre-assessment survey and to provide some key information prior to the booking.
3.      The assessor will conduct the Building Resilience Assessment at the appointed time. They may need to book an additional session if further investigations are required. This will be discussed with you.
4.      After the Building Resilience Assessment, Brisbane Sustainability Agency will send you a post-assessment survey. Your personalised Flood Resilience Recommendations report will be sent to you 4-6 weeks later.

Brisbane Sustainability Agency may need to contact you to book a surveyor to assess your property levels. If this occurs, we will need somebody to provide the surveyor with access to the basement. This will be discussed with you in advance.

What is the difference between the ‘surveyor’ and the ‘assessor’?

A surveyor:
·         The surveyor will survey your property levels, including the street(s) around your property and your basement.
·         The surveyor will need someone at the property to provide access to the basement.
·         The person who provides access to the property does not need to know about your property’s flood history and there are no surveys to complete.
·         You can nominate a representative to meet with the surveyor by supplying their full name, email address and phone number, to Brisbane Sustainability Agency, at least 48 hours prior to the booking.
You can nominate more than one person to meet with the surveyor.

An assessor:
·         The assessor will evaluate the flood resilience of your apartment building’s services, with a focus on your basement areas.
·         You will be asked to complete a pre-assessment survey prior to meeting with the assessor. To get the most out of this Program, this should be completed by someone who knows the flood history of your apartment building and can attend the Building Resilience Assessment
·         After the Building Resilience Assessment, you will be asked to complete a post-assessment survey. This should be completed by the person who attended the assessment.
·         You can nominate a representative to meet with the assessor by supplying their full name, email address and phone number, to Brisbane Sustainability Agency, at least 48 hours prior to the booking.
·         You can nominate more than one person to meet with the assessor.

Why do I need to sign a consent form?

The consent form allows you to participate in the Program. The consent form gives permission for:

·         The surveyor and assessor(s) to enter your property with your accompaniment (or with your nominated representative), to undertake the Building Resilience Assessment.
·         Your nominated representative to meet with the surveyor and/or the assessor(s). An example of this representative could be a building manager, concierge, caretaker, or property manager.
·         The surveyor, assessor(s), Brisbane Sustainability Agency and Council to collect, store and use data relating only to the Program, such as photos and digital recordings of actual or potential flood-related areas and structures (optional);
·         Brisbane Sustainability Agency, or Council, to contact you by phone or email, to gather information on the usefulness and effectiveness of the Program; and
Queensland Urban Utilities, consultants and subcontractors of Brisbane Sustainability Agency, or Council to contact you for the purpose of providing further services.

What free Flood Resilience Support Information will I receive?

All bodies corporate that have registered their interest will receive free, personalised resources that will provide guidance on understanding your property’s flood risk and ways you can prepare for, respond to, and recover quickly from flood events. This will include:

·         your property’s FloodWise Property Report;
·         information to assist you on how to read and interpret your FloodWise Property Report;
·         resources to help your building and residents generally prepare for and respond to severe weather events such as flooding; and
·         resources with building and design tips on how to improve flood resilience for apartment buildings generally that you can use to engage qualified tradespeople to implement yourself.

What is the Building Resilience Assessment?

The Building Resilience Assessment is a free personalised service to help you learn and understand how to improve your flood resilience. Initially the Program will focus on building services in basement areas. A suitably qualified assessor will visit your apartment building to:

·         provide guidance on understanding your flood risk
·         provide guidance on how to prepare for flooding
·         provide guidance on what to do during a flood
·         provide guidance on how to quickly recover and return the apartment building to a functional condition
·         evaluate the apartment building’s existing flood resilience
·         provide building and design recommendations to improve the apartment building’s flood resilience

Initially, assessments offered under this Program will focus on apartment building services located within the basement.

What do I need to do before the Building Resilience Assessment?

Brisbane Sustainability Agency will contact you before your Building Resilience Assessment to confirm your booking details and ask you to:

1.      Complete a consent form.
2.      Tell us who will attend the Building Resilience Assessment.
3.      Complete a pre-assessment survey.

We need to know who will attend the Building Resilience Assessment as the assessor needs this information to verify you/your nominated representative’s ID. Without this information, the assessor will not be able to proceed with the Building Resilience Assessment. If you are nominating someone to attend the assessment on your behalf, please provide their full name, email address, and contact number to Brisbane Sustainability Agency at least 48 hours prior to the assessment. To get the most out of this Program, please nominate someone who understands the flood history of the apartment building and who can engage in discussion with our assessors. You can nominate more than one person to attend the assessment.

Brisbane Sustainability Agency will ask you to complete an online pre-assessment survey. The survey will provide the assessor(s) with the information that they need to tailor the on-site visit. Ideally, the survey should be completed by someone who understands the flood history of the apartment building and can attend the Building Resilience Assessment.

What happens during the Building Resilience Assessment?

On the day of your booked Building Resilience Assessment, you will receive a visit from our assessor(s). The assessor(s) will provide you with the Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program letter of authority to verify their involvement in the Program and details of the visit. The visit may take up to one hour. The assessor(s) will walk with you through flood-impacted areas of your apartment building and discuss flood levels and flood history. They will also discuss flood resilience strategies with a focus on basement areas.

The assessors may be accompanied by a team member who will take a 3D scan or property-level survey of your property during the visit. These scans provide exact measurements of your property which are used to provide key data to complement the recommended resilience strategies. This scan will usually be done during the 1-hour appointment to avoid needing a second visit.

During an assessment, it may be identified that additional further specialised expertise may be required to complete the assessment and a second visit may be required. This will be discussed with you and a subsequent visit may be arranged at a suitable time.

What do I need to do after the Building Resilience Assessment?

Brisbane Sustainability Agency will contact you after your Building Resilience Assessment to ask you to complete an online post-assessment survey. The survey should be completed by the same person who attended the Building Resilience Assessment.

Brisbane Sustainability Agency will send you your personalised Flood Resilience Recommendations Report four to six weeks after your Building Resilience Assessment.

What is the Flood Resilience Recommendations Report?

Within four to six weeks after your Building Resilience Assessment, you will be sent a free personalised Flood Resilience Recommendations Report to help you improve the flood resilience of your apartment building. This may include building or design recommendations to reduce flood damage. It may include recommended actions that the body corporate can take before and during a flood event. Uptake of these recommendations could help you and the apartment building occupants prepare, respond, and recover quickly after a flood.

Whilst we encourage you to implement the recommendations, uptake is at your discretion. The Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program, encourages the use of QBCC licensed tradespeople.

What type of resilience recommendations will be made?

Retrofit – examples of retrofits include:
o   Raising building services above a defined flood level (e.g., fire control panel, transformers, low and high voltage cables, lift motors and controls, car stackers, telephone Private Automatic Branch Exchange, air conditioning units, hot water systems etc.),
o   Upgrading driveway or pedestrian access to basements (e.g., install a ramp to prevent flood water ingress from the street),
o   Upgrading the building drainage to direct flood water away from building services,
o   Installing or upgrading ventilation openings in a basement,
o   Installing or upgrading water pumps, flood gates or barriers, or
o   Installing or upgrading back-up generators.

Building management and preparation – examples include:
o   Scheduling of routine maintenance of apartment building common areas (e.g., routine clearing of stormwater drains, routine checks of non-return valves etc.), or
o   Creating a list of actions to take immediately prior to or during a flood (e.g., lock up waste containers, move chemicals above the flood level, activate flood barriers etc.).

Other recommendations as proposed by the assessor.

No recommendations – you have been assessed as flood resilient.

Will my insurance premiums be reduced by participating?

The Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program, has no influence over insurance companies and premiums. Insurance premiums consider a range of factors, one of which is the likelihood of flooding. We recommend you contact your insurer, or other insurance companies before undertaking resilience works on your property, to see if they are open to adjusting premiums based upon proposed flood-resilient works.

Following a flood, can my insurance offer a build back better/flood-resilient option?

Insurance companies are required by the State Government to build back according to the Queensland Building Code. At this stage, the building code has not specifically accounted for the use of flood-resilient materials for buildings in known flood prone areas. However, if you have recently experienced a flood, are in the process of making a claim and wish to rebuild using flood-resilient materials, please contact your insurer to discuss the options available to you.

What should I tell the building occupants?

You may wish to notify the building occupants that the Building Resilience Assessment will take place. The Building Resilience Assessment is unlikely to cause any disruption and will generally take up to one hour to complete. Bodies corporate participating in the Program will be offered free Flood Resilience resources that you may wish to provide to residents. The resources will provide residents with information and education about flood risk and preparedness and will provide an outline of the Program.

Can a hotel or motel participate in the Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program?

The Flood Resilient Suburbs – Apartments Program focuses on residential apartment buildings. As the primary use for a hotel is for business, hotels are invited to register for the Flood Resilient Suburbs – Business Resilience Program.

Be prepared for flooding

Brisbane City Council is committed to creating a more resilient city by ensuring residents, businesses and organisations are better prepared to endure future severe weather events. The free tools and information accessed through the below links can help Brisbane residents, businesses and organisations understand their property’s flood risk and how to prepare for future flood events:

Flood Awareness Map – To identify the likelihood and sources of flooding that may affect your property, sourced from the latest flood studies and models.

FloodWise Property Report – Download a FloodWise Property Report to understand the risk and type of flooding at a specific property to enable you to plan and build new habitable floor levels in accordance with Brisbane City Council’s requirements.

Brisbane Severe Weather Alert Service – Sign up to receive free alert notices of severe thunderstorms, destructive winds and potential flooding.

Visit Council’s be prepared web page for more information on how you can prepare yourself and your property for severe weather events.

Flood preparation, recovery and emergency phone numbers

Life-threatening emergencies: 000
Brisbane City Council: 07 3403 8888
State Emergency Service (SES): 132 500
Energex (power lines): 13 19 62
Queensland Urban Utilities: 13 26 57 (13 23 64 for emergencies)
Community Recovery Hotline: 1800 173 349
Lifeline: 13 11 14