Rebuilding sustainable homes after bushfires

Renew's Green Rebuild Toolkit was developed in response to the 2019-2020 bushfire season, in which over 3,500 homes were lost around the country and many more structures destroyed. 

Renew has officially launched the Green Rebuild Toolkit by providing a series of online resources, articles, and information to assist fire-affected communities plan and rebuild their homes to suit our changing climate. The toolkit includes step-by-step advice on where to start when planning a resilient rebuild, expert articles and resources, advice videos, and case studies of resilient homes and rebuilds. Please, feel free to check out many of these resources on our site.

Throughout June we facilitated a program of free webinars as a part of the project, featuring experts in the field speaking alongside homeowners who have already rebuilt after fire. Over 3000 bookings were made into these sessions, with people attending from all over Australia. In July Renew provided one-on-one advice sessions to impacted communities on how to make their homes more resilient to bushfire. These events offered an opportunity for many to connect with some of the nations leading designers, builders, and bushfire experts. 

It is with great appreciation that Renew has received further funding from GlobalGiving to continue providing support to communities most impacted by bushfire. We are truly humbled by your collective support, and look forward to updating you further in the future.

Links:

• Renew Website
• Green Rebuild Toolkit website

The 2019-2020 Australian bushfires destroyed 5,900 buildings and homes. 2.9 million people had their homes damaged, threatened, or were temporarily displaced. At Renew, we recognise that nothing can replace a home lost in a bushfire. The Green Rebuild Toolkit will help those who lost their homes during the 2019/2020 Australian Black Summer bushfires by providing bespoke resources to assist those people to rebuild their homes and increase resistance to future climate disasters.

Over the last few months Renew has worked closely alongside local councils and community groups to best understand how we can support these resilient communities, and what services, resources and information is needed to guide this support. Through detailed community consultation, we have identified key learnings that have informed the development of our resources. These resources will assist those most affected by bushfire by offering support on every step of the journey. The toolkit will reflect key areas of interest for people rebuilding their home. Topics range from understanding key terms and planning a rebuild to designing for climate and bushfire risk.

To assist bushfire affected households to access these resources with ease, we have been working to develop a website, which will keep local communities in the loop with resources, events, and opportunities. Each section is made up of chapters, which include various expert feature articles, videos and case studies. The website will launch in the coming weeks - we look forward to sharing it with you all. Thank you for your generous support!