Retrofitting for Resilience: understanding options for home adaptation upgrades
Photo credit: City of Greater Bendigo, Building Resilience: Making homes climate ready, https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-10/Building-Resilience-Making--Homes-Climate-Ready.pdf
CVGA partnered with the Castlemaine Institute on this 12-month, community-based research project, supported by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).
The project aimed to identify practical options for residents living in houses that are more exposed to the impacts of climate change, to 'upgrade' or 'retrofit' their homes and gardens to enhance resilience.
Many households in regional Victoria have experienced property damage because of climate-related extreme weather events, including bushfires, storms and floods. Much of the housing stock in the region has not been designed or constructed to withstand projected increases in temperatures and extreme weather events under climate change.
Increasingly the finance, mortgage, and insurance sectors are also taking an interest in how households may be impacted by a changing climate, and what households are doing to reduce associated risks. The Climate Council recently released a report, Uninsurable Nation: Australia’s Most Climate-Vulnerable Places, outlining the top 20 federal electorates most at-risk from climate-related extreme weather events. Seven of the ten local government areas in the Loddon Mallee region are within the top 20 most at-risk electorates.
Retrofitting existing homes to enhance climate resilience can benefit residents by improving overall liveability, health and wellbeing outcomes, and reducing costs associated with property damage, higher insurance premiums, and year-round heating and cooling.
The project worked closely with a cross-section of community members from Mount Alexander Shire as a case study site that is broadly representative of housing typologies across regional Victoria. Through a desktop study and participatory research activities (such as surveys, interviews and focus group discussion), the project:
The project was guided by reference groups with representatives from the community, and local and state government, across the CVGA region to ensure that research findings and any resources produced are relevant and accessible.
The project was completed in June 2023.
The project aimed to identify practical options for residents living in houses that are more exposed to the impacts of climate change, to 'upgrade' or 'retrofit' their homes and gardens to enhance resilience.
Many households in regional Victoria have experienced property damage because of climate-related extreme weather events, including bushfires, storms and floods. Much of the housing stock in the region has not been designed or constructed to withstand projected increases in temperatures and extreme weather events under climate change.
Increasingly the finance, mortgage, and insurance sectors are also taking an interest in how households may be impacted by a changing climate, and what households are doing to reduce associated risks. The Climate Council recently released a report, Uninsurable Nation: Australia’s Most Climate-Vulnerable Places, outlining the top 20 federal electorates most at-risk from climate-related extreme weather events. Seven of the ten local government areas in the Loddon Mallee region are within the top 20 most at-risk electorates.
Retrofitting existing homes to enhance climate resilience can benefit residents by improving overall liveability, health and wellbeing outcomes, and reducing costs associated with property damage, higher insurance premiums, and year-round heating and cooling.
The project worked closely with a cross-section of community members from Mount Alexander Shire as a case study site that is broadly representative of housing typologies across regional Victoria. Through a desktop study and participatory research activities (such as surveys, interviews and focus group discussion), the project:
- Explored lived experience, knowledge and awareness of climate-related risks, household exposure, and home adaptation options;
- Identified the resources, services, and incentives that are available (or needed) for residents to retrofit their homes; and
- Developed recommendations for local and state government to encourage and enable residents to implement home adaptation solutions.
The project was guided by reference groups with representatives from the community, and local and state government, across the CVGA region to ensure that research findings and any resources produced are relevant and accessible.
The project was completed in June 2023.
Retrofitting for Resilience Final Report