Effectiveness of land-use planning flood controls on buildings

This project was proposed by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.

It will help councils and relevant state consent authorities continue to implement existing flood controls, from assessment through to approval, and identify whether further guidance is needed to implement these controls in construction.

Specifically, this research will:

• provide insights into the constraints faced by councils in implementing flood controls and, where relevant, conduct further analysis into causes of constraint and suggest appropriate solutions
• provide an overview of where buildings are built to current flood standards and, if not, investigate how flood controls could be applied effectively in the construction of buildings
• identify any existing gaps and solutions in councils’ implementation of flood controls to new buildings and modified existing buildings
• identify opportunities where land-use planning, at a state and local government level, could be adjusted to ensure more flood-resilient communities are created to facilitate greater implementation
• identify the flood and hazard level (e.g. high or low hazard) and hazard category, based on the hazard vulnerability curves by the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience
• include a control group of destroyed buildings that were not constructed using flood controls and compare them with buildings with flood controls in the same area to determine how effective flood controls are in practice.

The research will be used to inform possible future directions for flood conditions in the planning system to provide simple, effective flood provisions for the safety and resilience of communities.

Land-use planning is a critical control to reduce the risk of future flooding as it guides where homes, businesses and infrastructure are built. In short, land-use planning can determine a large part of the future exposure and vulnerability of communities to flooding.

There is limited knowledge about how current planning system flood controls are being implemented and, if implemented, if they are being maintained in perpetuity and if they are effective. Hence, there is an urgent need to evaluate their implementation and the outcomes achieved.

This project will provide an evidence base to understand the effectiveness of New South Wales (NSW) planning provisions addressing flooding for land releases and buildings that have been built or modified in the last 10 years. The research will be used to inform consideration of existing legislation, standards and policy from which improved land use planning can be developed.

The project will include detailed case studies that analyse and compare buildings constructed with flood planning controls vs. buildings not constructed with flood planning controls in the same or similar area to determine the effectiveness of flood planning controls, considering both economic and social factors.

This project is aimed at increasing state and local government understanding of the effect that planning controls are having on the resilience of communities and buildings to flood impacts. Through national stakeholder workshops, the final report, and other knowledge sharing opportunities, the project will identify and share insights and lessons that may be used to inform future directions for flood policy in other jurisdictional planning systems in addition to NSW.

Frequently asked questions

Q) Can NHRA connect interested parties with other agencies or organisations involved in developing this project, to discuss it further and assist in developing an EOI submission?

A) While an EOI is open for submissions, NHRA procurement processes don't allow NHRA staff to connect interested parties, as this can cause conflicts of interest. However, interested parties are able to contact whomever they wish, including those organisations listed on the EOI, to discuss the project and explore opportunities for collaboration or potential consortium submissions. If an online project briefing has been organised for an EOI, we encourage interested parties to attend the briefing to ask questions and meet other interested parties.

Q) Can interested parties contact NHRA with questions about the project design before submitting?

A)  While an EOI is open for submissions, NHRA procurement processes don't allow NHRA staff to share knowledge of the project design directly with interested parties. However, if you have questions, you can email research@naturalhazards.com.au and you will receive a timely response if appropriate, according to our procurement processes.

Q) Is there a preference for a project team to be from a single research organisation, or from across multiple organisations?

A) The Centre has no preference for either a single organisation or a multi-organisation project team. EOIs will be accepted from either and will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria in the same way. In the case of consortiums, the Centre requests that one consortium member be nominated as Lead Research Provider and take responsibility for subcontracting other parties.

Q) Can the proposed project team include researchers from government agencies or research consultancies, as well as university-based researchers?

A) EOIs will be accepted from multi-organisation project teams, and project teams can include researchers at government agencies and research consultancies. The proposed project team's capacity to undertake the project will be evaluated in the same way whether researchers are university-, consultancy- or agency-based.

Q) Would academic salaries (excluding administrative overheads) be eligible to budget?

A) Yes, academic salaries can be included within the project budget, but only when they are direct project costs and their salary is not already covered elsewhere. E.g. the salary costs of a contract researcher who is actively working on the project can be included up to the FTE component they are contributing. However, the salary costs of a tenured academic who is already paid through the university/research organisation would be included as an in-kind contribution up to the amount of their FTE contribution to the project.

Q) What do you mean by "peer review"?

A) This is a quality control process. The final report must be reviewed by someone who is an expert in the field and independent of the project.

Q) At what rate can salary on-costs be charged?

A) Administrative overheads are limited to direct salary-related on-costs. Indirect cost recoveries are not to be included. Other administrative overheads and indirect costs can be included as in-kind contributions. Where the salary on-cost rate exceeds 28% this will need to be justified.

Q) Can equipment costs be included in the budget?

A) Ordinarily, project funds are not to be used to purchase equipment. Where funds for equipment are requested, they will need to be justified.

Q) Can international research teams apply? Alternatively, can international research teams be part of a consortium bid?

A) International research teams can be part of research projects when they are part of a consortium submission that is led by an Australian research organisation. The international team would need to be subcontracted by the lead Australian based research organisation. Please note that all budget submissions must be in Australian dollars and the lead organisation must bear the cost of funds transfer and responsibility for due diligence as required under Australian Foreign Interference regulations.

Q) Is there an option of registering my interest as an independent researcher that could assist a larger team or are you only able to consider proposals that address the entire project?

A) Yes, you can submit an EOI as an independent researcher addressing part of the project requirements. In the EOI submission form, please outline which aspects of the project you can address. Once the EOI closes, we can consider linking researchers together, although whether or not we can do that will depend on a range of factors, so we can’t guarantee that outcome. Of course, the other option is to reach out to potential collaborators now about putting in a joint EOI submission that addresses the entire project.

Q) What do you mean by “Total cumulative FTE contribution over the life of the project"

A) This means the total FTE per person over the life of the project. Maximum total FTE for each person is 1.0. Cumulative is to add up all the personal.

Some examples

• If someone is contributing 1 FTE per year for three years, then their FTE is 1.000 FTE
• If someone is contributing 0.1 FTE per year for three years, then their FTE is 0.100 FTE 
• If someone is contributing 0.05 FTE for two years of a three-year project, then their FTE 0.033 FTE
• If someone is contributing 0.5 for two years and 0.1 for one years of a three-year project, then their FTE is 0.367 FTE

 

Q: Would the scope of the project look into  the existence of land use plans and policies, their actual application or success and failures? 

A: Yes. The research would like to investigate the current land use plans and policies from the state to the local council level. This includes evaluating what policies are being implemented or not, to understand the elements of either its success application and/or areas for improvement. When presenting the case studies, the research would like to delve into not only the impact of flood on building damage but also the flood planning controls and policies being applied to building standards/code throughout the broad range of planning system in NSW. Hence, the research would like to fill in the gap in information on how to improve policies for a more resilient building on the flood plain s in NSW. 

Q: What is the key focus of the project? Is it on the planning approval process for new home development and/or the building construction and engineering aspect of house development? 

A: The project is primarily focused on the land use planning since the NSW DPHI has no remit of the building standards/code. Though the research does not necessarily look into the citing of new home development, it seeks to explore the how building can be damage resistant from probable maximum flow and from velocities and debris loading.  

Q: Is the research project concern over the buildings and land releases in the past where planning controls/ flood models are not yet in place? 

A: The project seeks to provide evidence base to understand the effectiveness of flood planning provisions for land releases and buildings (or modified) in the last 10 years. However, this is not exclusive. There is also valuable information on destroyed properties built over 10 years ago. It will be an additional information to have knowing what were the pre approval process before and its limitations.  

Q: Why is this project not awarded last year as a part of an umbrella T5-A5 project? 

A: It was a NHRA decision. Initially, there were 3 work packages included in a large scale T5-A5 project, aiming to manage the project in a more comprehensive way. However, this resulted to overly restricting submission, limiting the capacity of applicants to address all the requirements of all the work packages. There is also partial detail included in the Call for EOI, giving applicants not enough information of what the project was exactly seeking for.  

Q: Is there only one successful application? Or is there a possibility of two applicants having equal merit to focus on different areas or region? 

A: This is possible. However, due to the budget constraint of the project, awarding this to more than one applicant is a challenge.   

Q: What are the building data accessible in NSW as part of this project? Please describe the attributes that will be made available.   

A: The DPHI does not maintain building data. However, NSW SES and Reconstruction Authority (Northern Rivers RA), have post survey work for building as part of the 2021-22 flooding on the Northern Rivers. There are some GIS data and others are post disaster survey data on different criteria. Data availability and requirements can be further discussed during the project inception meeting. 

Q: Does the research project have preferred NSW areas prioritised for case studies? 

A: There is no preferred area. The end user/stakeholders would like the research team to propose case study areas. However, the NSW DPHI also have existing connections to areas that might of interest for the researchers. They would like to have area representation in urban, coastal, rural in bother Western and Southern areas of NSW.  

Q: What kind of expertise/skills and experience is the research project looking for in a team? 

A: The team should have experience and expertise in NSW planning system. The successful research team should be aware of the complexities of flooding and land use planning NSW, different from other states and territories. 

 Q: Does the research project require undertaking flood modelling?  

A: No. This project does not expect that a flood modelling will be undertaken by the research team.