Absolutely!
How do I know if my site is bushfire affected?
There are a few ways to determine whether a site is bushfire affected. If you are interested in purchasing a property you suspect may be prone to bushfires, a simple way of discovering the status would be to access your local council website. There are a variety of online mapping tools that assess the property’s distance from bushland. These council websites usually operate by using an interactive map, that shows highlighted areas that are listed as bushfire prone. They are easily accessible and a reliable source for understanding whether the property is affected.
If your local council does not provide these services on their website, you can alternatively use a 10.7 Certificate. A 10.7 Certificate provides a collection of information from council to understand more about the property. These are required when the local council does not provide access to bushfire mapping tools. To discover your specific BAL Rating, you must engage a Bushfire Consultant. This certificate also contains helpful information regarding other site specifications, and is useful for any project.
What is a Bushfire Consultant?
Bushfire Consultants determine the rating of the property and assist in the approval of the home. Bushfire Consultants create reports regarding the level of fire risk present for your home. They detail the projects surrounds and proximity to bush land. From there they can provide a rating on the level of danger the site is in. This is called a ‘BAL Rating’, which stands for ‘Bushfire Attack Level’. Bushfire Consultants also provide you with different construction standards that need to be met according to the identified rating. These professionals have extensive knowledge of building requirements relevant to your project. For any dwelling in close proximity to bushland, they are absolutely necessary for the project being successfully approved for construction.
What happens if the property has a high BAL Rating?
If your site is positioned in a high BAL rating, don’t worry! At Atria Designs, we are equipped to work with any site requirements to create the home you have been dreaming of. However, it’s important to understand that having a bushfire affected home means more consideration needs to be applied to the design and approval of the project. BAL Ratings exist to provide homeowners with a clear understanding on how to increase the protection of their homes. They are implemented to keep homes safer, so regardless of the exceptions made to the design, the requirements are necessary to act preventatively when it comes to fires.
There may be extra requirements in the approval stage of your project depending on your specific rating. For example, a dwelling with a rating of BAL 40 or higher, cannot be approved through a Complying Development Certificate. It is considerations like these that our designers can provide information on in your initial meeting with us, and afterwards, it’s important to attain a 10.7 Certificate and connect with a Bushfire Consultant from the beginning of the process.
Another aspect of having a bushfire affected site is that there will be additional costs in the construction stage for materials. Once you progress to attaining quotations for the construction, this is where these costs may become apparent. For instance, these additional costs could be discovered when attaining windows. Flame zone windows are more expensive because they are made to guard against fire. In some cases, they are triple the cost of the average windows for home construction.
Overall, these restrictions are necessary to lower the risk of damage to your dwelling. If you are looking to purchase land that may be subject to fires, feel free to give us a call to have a helping hand from the beginning of the process.
