West End is on a flood plain but homes are still needed. Brisbane City Council has plans for 10,000 more homes in the area. These include build-to-rent and luxury units. Plannings begun on three 50-storey skyscrapers at an old concrete factory in West End.
Town planning firm Urbis said 370 units will be at the site and takes into account climate change projections. 75 per cent of the site will be green space. There will be retail below. It's designed to pack up and evacuate when the river floods. Coffee shops and dog groomers will be on the ground floor. The power and water connections in the retail outlets are up high. This allows for easy removal before a weather event and cleaning after. Then it's back to business when the water goes down.
Mark Stockwell is a Brisbane developer. He is one of the few who talks about floods with buyers. Mr Stockwell said the design came from the 2011 and 2022 floods. Units are being built higher. The first unit is at the same height as the third level in the old days. Meanwhile, utilities like air conditioning and power plants are now on roofs. "Look... the higher you build, the more you are out of the flood plain", Mr Stockwell said. "We should not worry about height."
Floodplain Management Australia's Jess Carey said developers now needed to factor in floods. This means floodgates, bunds, pumps, real-time flood apps and flood drills. Just like a fire drill. "So, people who live there know when to [go], know when to get out and how, if they can," he said. He understands that talking about flooding scares people. We should still talk about it "as it is a part of living in Brisbane". "We can't... use 2011 and 2022 as our example. There have been bigger floods in the past... there will be bigger ones going forward," he said. "There is no easy answer. We know we are in the midst of a housing... crisis. So we need houses, but we also want to keep people safe.