Rebuild and Recover Flood Resilient Communities Program

Helping community-leased facilities in Brisbane receive tools, advice and recommendations to ‘build back better’ and embed flood resilience into their organisation.

About the program

Helping community-leased facilities build flood resilience

In February 2022, Brisbane experienced a severe weather event which triggered unprecedented overland flow, creek and river flooding that caused a devastating impact on the city and many of the cities sporting and community organisations.

In response to this event, Brisbane City Council announced the Rebuild and Recover Flood Resilient Communities Program (RRFRCP). The Program supports flood-affected community-leased organisations through assisting them to better understand their estimated flood level and risk, as well as supporting organisations with knowledge, advice and recommendations to ‘build back better’ to reduce future flooding impacts.

The Rebuild and Recover Flood Resilient Communities Program closed June 30, 2024.

Benefits of the program

The RRFRCP applies the principles of the existing Flood Resilient Homes Program to assist clubs in ‘building back better’. The program requires flood resilient assessments to be conducted through a site visit and recommendation reports compiled, which is project managed by BSA.

The program is funded by Council and is provided as a free service, by invitation, to clubs who lease facilities from Council. The Rebuild and Recover Flood Resilient Communities Program is delivered by Brisbane Sustainability Agency, as an initiative of Brisbane City Council.

Impact on community resilience

The Rebuild and Recover Flood Resilient Communities Program conducted flood resilience assessments at 109 community-leased organisations, leading to comprehensive retrofit works at 52 sites.

The retrofit works included measures such as the installation of water-resilient flooring, walls and joinery, drainage improvements, and the elevation of essential services such as electricity, water, and heating. The implemented measures significantly improved the flood resilience of the facilities, enabling quicker recovery and reduced disruption after future floods.

“We are enjoying the security of knowing our plant and equipment is out of harm’s way in the event of flooding, and having significantly more floor space.”

David Herbert, President

Brisbane Jazz Club

Want to learn more about our other resilience programs?

Flood resilient suburbs program

Resilient clubs support program

Introductory webinar: Building flood resilient organisations

To introduce community facilities to the principles of flood resilient design, Brisbane Sustainability Agency and our program flood resilient experts shared some practical tips in a webinar presentation and Q&A. The webinar covered the importance of knowing your flood risk, flood resilient design strategies and examples of building and construction techniques.

Watch a recording of the webinar below:

Flood resilience resources

See below for a list of resources from Brisbane City Council, Brisbane Sustainability Agency and other industry experts for information on flood resilience. While many of these resources include information on residential property design, the principles discussed can easily be applied to community organisations and facilities.

Knowing your flood risk

FloodWise Property Reports – The first step is to visit Brisbane City Council’s portal and download a FloodWise Property Report for your address which will tell you your property’s estimated flood risk, the estimated flood level and the estimation elevation level of the property’s building in comparison to the flood level.

Find a Surveyor – Following a property report, it is recommended to engage with a professional property surveyor to determine the floor-level of your dwelling and then compare that the to estimated flood levels on your FloodWise report to know approximately where flood waters may rise to.

Remember, that while Brisbane City Council has some of the nations best information available for residents, floods can develop in unexpected ways so treat this report as an estimated guide but not a single-source of truth.

Learning the steps to building flood resilience

How to build flood resilience in Brisbane – Brisbane Sustainability Agency’s online resource to help Brisbane residents and builders learn a general understanding of how to know their property’s flood risk and what steps can be taken to build flood resilience. This webpage is most similar to the content discussed in the webinar and provides a holistic overview of the process of building flood resilience.

Flood resilience display book – Brisbane Sustainability Agency’s display book of some different flood resilient design and construction techniques that Brisbane residents have undertaken, as part of the Flood Resilient Homes Program.

Detailed guides and information for flood resilient building and construction techniques

Flood resilient design and building techniques – An overview of different flood resilient design and techniques available for Brisbane property’s with an interactive tool to see strategies in action.

Flood Resilient Building Guidance for Queensland Homes | QRA – Queensland Reconstruction Authority’s Flood Resilient Building Guidance for Queensland Homes.

A home owner’s guide to rebuilding after a flood | QBCC – Queensland Building and Construction Commission’s home owner’s guide to rebuilding after a flood.

For more detailed tips and resources that are particularly useful for sporting clubs, visit the expert flood recovery and resilience resources for sporting clubs page.

More information

If you would like more information about the Rebuild and Recover Flood Resilient Communities Program or flood resilient design generally, read our frequently asked questions or you can contact Brisbane Sustainability Agency at 07 3007 7013 or email admin@sustainablebrisbane.com.au.

If you are a Brisbane organisaton that leases a facility from Brisbane City Council, please contact the Community Facilities Team on communityfacilities@brisbane.qld.gov.au.