International response to resilience

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) has teamed up with leading industry organisations to launch a new initiative to coordinate an international response to improving the resilience of the built environment.

Together with the National Research Council of Canada, the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and the International Code Council; the ABCB has formed the Global Resiliency Dialogue.

The initiative will share information and best practice for creating a resilient built environment, at a time when risk to the building resilience is increasing from weather-related natural hazards.

Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) Executive Director, Suzanne Toumbourou, says the built environment is vulnerable to climate change.

“Our building code can play a vital role in protecting us from a future of extreme weather and wild fluctuations in temperature,” she says.

The Global Resiliency Dialogue released a statement called the Findings on Changing Risk and Building Codes last week as a first step. The statement emphasises the need for building codes to adapt to the changing risk from extreme weather events as the effects of global climate change grow.

It also explores the necessity for international organisations to come together with scientists to develop forward-looking strategies to create a more resilient future.

“Climate change knows no borders and the best response is an international one,” says Toumbourou.