In association with Buckley Vann town planners and the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland (UQ), we undertook a climate change vulnerability and adaptation planning study for the remote centre of Choiseul Bay, at the northern tip of the Solomon Islands.
In association with Buckley Vann town planners and the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland (UQ), we undertook a climate change vulnerability and adaptation planning study for the remote centre of Choiseul Bay, at the northern tip of the Solomon Islands. The project was funded by Australian Aid through the PACCSAP program.
This study involved oceanographic and coastal modelling to determine risks associated with tsunami and other natural hazards. Being located on the edge of the Pacific ‘ring of fire’, tsunamis resulting from local earthquakes are the biggest risk to coastal communities around Choiseul Bay.
Most development, services and infrastructure on Taro Island in Choiseul Bay was determined by the study to be vulnerable to tsunami hazards under present day conditions. The study identified risk reduction measures through extensive community and stakeholder consultation.
While there are a number of actions that can be taken in the short term to increase resilience of the existing development to tsunami risk, the long term strategy for managing climate change is relocation of the capital to a new site on the adjacent mainland Island. Land has already been reserved for this purpose. The study provided guidance on implementation of the relocation along with details of necessary planning provisions and a local planning scheme to support future development.
Seqwater is the Queensland Government Bulk Water Supply Authority and manages over $11 billion of water supply infrastructure - including dams and weirs, conventional water treatment plants, a desalination plant, the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme, as well reservoirs, pump stations and more than 600 kilometres of bi-directional pipeline network. As part of Seqwater's climate change risk management, this project assessed climate change vulnerability of Seqwater's built assets.
We were engaged by the Gold Coast City Council to identify the key risks from climate change across the local government area and to test the readiness of the City to sustain or adapt to the impacts of key climate change parameters.
In partnership with the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), we are helping to prepare new national guidelines regarding climate resilient materials.
BMT conducted a climate change impact assessment as part of comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement process for the Sunshine Coast Airport Expansion. The project involved the construction of a new runway (able to accommodate Boeing 787 aircraft), taxiways and apron infrastructure within the Sunshine Coast Airport site which is a low lying heath environment that is bounded by the Maroochy River as well as the open coast at Marcoola Beach.