Built environment

Our research objectives are the establishment of an understanding of the vulnerability of buildings and key infrastructure that is consistent and comparable across a range of natural hazards (earthquake, flood and wind, and bushfire initially). It will focus on existing high risk components of the built environment but will include information on how new construction can be more appropriately undertaken for some hazards (flood and bushfire) as a risk reduction strategy.

The research will not only quantify the contributions of existing assets to community risk but will also provide information on how this risk can be mitigated through cost-effective interventions that will reduce damage, injury, community disruption and the future cost of natural disasters from the present baseline of minimal intervention.

It is an objective that these quantitative measures be in a form that the insurance industry can also utilise in assessing potential reductions to portfolio risk and possible premium reduction incentives to policy owner.

Significantly, the cluster will consider more broadly the cost of disruption to economic activity by considering business activity at an interdependent district level where disruption directly caused by damage to some business premises has a broader impact on other businesses in the locality (e.g. Christchurch).