Built environment

A home is often a person’s the most significant purchase.  When there are defects or problems with your home, it can be devastating financially and emotionally.

Many reports in recent years on the impact of getting the building process wrong, from planning to design or from construction to inadequate maintenance of property, the cost to property owners and the community can be devastating.

The Insurance Council is undertaking a program of work in consultation with Governments at all levels to improve the quality of what we build from the important review coming out of the Building Confidence Report in 2018.

In leading a whole of industry reform program, the Insurance Council is working with the NSW Building Commissioner.  The improvements already implemented by the Office of the Building Commissioner, through initiatives such as ‘Construct NSW’ and ‘Project Remediate’, consumers in NSW stand to have greater confidence and trust in the homes they buy in the future.  The Insurance Council is establishing partnerships with other States and Territories to build on the strong position in place in NSW.  

Natural disasters are unfortunately impacting Australia and Australians with increasing frequency and severity.  While these events provide for significant insurance claims, the increasing cost of protecting against these events mean that insurance premiums have increased.  

The Insurance Council continues to work with industry and academic leaders in identifying best practice opportunities to improve the durability of homes, to establish better infrastructure to protect communities in the event of a natural disaster and to enable a sustainable built environment.

In addressing the issue of climate action, our climate initiatives are extensive and driving a strong improvement of what we build, how we build it and where it is built.  

To review the actions the Insurance Council is taking on addressing climate in our built environment, please refer to our Climate Action page.  

Building in Australia occurs to a minimum standard mandated by the National Construction Code administered by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and to Australian Standards.  While setting the minimum benchmarks for building, they are constructed to ensure life preservation in the event of a natural disaster or similar catastrophic event.  They are not constructed with property preservation as a core consideration.

Although the National Construction Code has seen significant advancement in the durability of what we build, the Insurance Council is working closely with both the ABCB and with Standards Australia to develop stronger construction methods to better protect life and asset when a devastating event occurs. 

In support of the many varied segments of reform and improvement in our built environment, the Insurance Council has established Project Resilience.  

This is a collaborative project, engaging the insurance industry but leading development of programs with industry, Governments, the academic sector and the community to better identify what resilience in the built environment looks like, what measures we need to take to achieve a more durable built environment and to protect Australians and their assets.

Central to the aim of Project Resilience is to be the voice for a resilient Australia.