A little over 30 years ago, regular land auctions were held at the Albert Hall. Canberra was expanding rapidly beyond Woden and into Weston Creek – into suburbs like Duffy and Holder.
Blocks of land, one by one, were knocked down to couples who had typically been transferred from other cities to work in the Public Service.
The land was cheap and the rules were simple. There was to be no land speculation and the suburbs and communities were to be built quickly. The land was sold as 99-year leases with two critical covenants. You must start building within six months and you must finish building and occupy within 12 months. Delays had to be justified. But there were not many.
The suburbs of Duffy and Holder were built, and built quickly.
Exactly nine months ago today 491 houses were destroyed in the January 18 bushfires.
Those who had been burnt out displayed a gritty determination to rebuild. Two-thirds were determined to rebuild. Of the rest, most were undecided or inclined to stay. Few were determined to sell up.
Nine months later the story has changed. Only a half are determined to rebuild. More of the undecideds have decided to go.
The rebuilding has been tardy – dogged by planning bureaucracy, insurance hassles, under insurance and the indecision that inevitably comes after a disaster.
The building figures do not reflect that earlier gutsy determination to rebuild and restore.
Out of 491 destroyed houses, a pitiful 11 have been rebuilt and certificates of occupancy issued. Just 11, or 2 per cent out of 491.
Of the 491, a further 113, or 23 per cent, have begun building.
Thirty years ago it would have meant that 75 per cent would have been in breach of their lease covenants and subject to forfeiture for not having started construction within six months. (And that is allowing a full three months to clear away the rubble.)
A further 75 have lodged plans but have not begun construction. Either their plans are yet to be approved or they have not got from approval to construction stage. I suspect most of the hold up is in getting the plans approved rather than in getting a builder.
A further 35 fire-affected families are still deciding what to do. And 77 blocks have been sold to third parties.
That leaves 180 in limbo — land unaccounted for in the figures provided by the ACT Government this week.
The ACT Bushfire Recovery Taskforce says, “Residents whose houses were destroyed by the January bushfires were surveyed in June and contacted again in September to ensure they were receiving the information and support they needed and were not feeling as if they were on their own. While 51 per cent intend to rebuild (fewer than 64 per cent in February), the ACT Government acknowledges that recovery is measured by people moving forward, and not simply in terms of the numbers who rebuild. . . .
“Some people have changed their minds many times during the year and may continue to do so. Hence the Government recognises it is important to continue to provide a range of support and information through services such as the Recovery Centre, the Building Cost Advisory Service, and ACTPLA’s Bushfire Support Service to help people make their decisions.”
That is all very well. Traumatised people will take longer to make decisions. The Bushfire Recovery Taskforce has done a terrific job on trauma and support. Nonetheless something is seriously amiss on the building reconstruction side when this wealthy community with its great administrative skills has taken nine months to finish a pitifully small 11 dwellings out of the 491 destroyed and has left a large number in limbo.
Can it all be put down to the indecision of the traumatised? Some of the anecdotal evidence suggests that the complexity and indirect costs of the planning system and the conduct of some of the insurance companies in failing to deal with under insurance has contributed.
Unfortunately for the bushfire victims, major changes to the planning system were made shortly before the fires. Draft Variation 200 and the High Quality Sustainable Development rules were being introduced. These new rules could not be relaxed for the bushfire victims without a general cry from the development industry that if lax rules were okay for bushfire victims they should be okay across Canberra. The planning bureaucracy was not going to allow that. So the concessions to bushfire victims were restricted to the waiver of fees and the waiver of planning process for those who wanted to rebuild in accordance with their original plans. At the time, it was called cutting through red tape.
Sadly, when faced with under insurance and the high cost and seemingly endless mucking about of going through a redesign, some opted for the retro-build, thereby denying themselves the advantages of new design.
If all the costs, delay and work in the capital-letter High Quality Sustainable Design process actually resulted in some lower-case high quality sustainable design one could accept it. But it looks more like a box-ticking exercise.
I don’t know what was the sadder sight – going round the affected area by bicycle a couple of days after the fire or going over the same ground a few days ago. The houses under construction are so obviously badly designed (or not designed at all). They are boxes from the 1970s oriented to the street not the compass. Pity about the heating costs in winter. Many are without eaves to save construction costs now – pity about the hellish western heat in summer.
The fire that destroyed the houses was an uncontrollable force of nature, but the rebuilding has always been controllable. Alas, the design has not advanced much since the 1970s despite the rules. We need education not rules. The rebuilding designs, by and large, look no better than the 1960s and1970s, but at least in the 1960s and 1970s the mediocre design was done with speed.
On the quality of the design of the rebuilding the architectural industry is in despair. On its speed, the building industry is in despair.
Nine months later, just 11 families of 491 are back home. Something is till going wrong.