City Building Seminar - March

Growth in SEQ is considerable and is expected to continue. The community seeks liveable places, reliable water supplies, effective sanitation, protection from flooding, healthy ecosystems, cool green landscapes, efficient use of resources, and beautiful urban and natural spaces. While there is typically broad agreement about high-level aspirations such as the above, implementation of these ideas often seems to ‘fall short’, in the context of growth, climate change and complex governance arrangements.

Recent work by Chris and James brings a new dimension to these approaches. James has pioneered work on building resilience by marrying conventional approaches to flood protection, e.g. raising building’s floor level with new alternative thinking about resilient design, allowing water to enter a building in a controlled way. This has been coupled with work by the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) on building typologies for a smaller ‘water footprint’ and to emerging ideas for long term changes in the way flood waters are controlled and managed.

Chris Tanner is a civil engineer and planner. As Regional Manager (Qld) at the CRCWSC and Adjunct Associate Professor at Advanced Water Management Centre, he advises industry and government on adaptive change for, integrated water management, protecting properties from flood and public parks

and urban amenity. He was a director of Bligh Tanner consultant engineers where a number of environmental engineering projects defined a company reputation for high quality design focused solutions with multi-dimensional benefits.

James holds a Doctorate in Architecture and is principal of James Davidson Architect, a studio-based architectural firm with a focus on connecting research, advocacy and practice in the climate adaptation space. In 2012, James was awarded a Winston Churchill fellowship focusing on flood resilient architectural design. He has designed a number of flood resilient homes and is the author of the State Government’s Flood Resilient Building Guidance for Queensland Homes. James is also the principal consultant engaged by City Smart on behalf of the Brisbane City Council for the design and implementation of their current Flood Resilient Homes Program.