The natural beauty of living in Australia's outback often coexists with its vulnerability to bushfires. Due to the increasing density and spread of the built environment, as well as the onset of longer lasting and more intense fire seasons, Australia needs to improve its design planning in order to combat the threat of bushfires.

Building in bushfire prone areas: A 2024 update surveys the current landscape of bushfire design including the relevant building codes, standards and regulations. Fire-resistant strategies must be implemented even before the design stage to give a building a fighting chance of surviving a bushfire. In this paper, we highlight the link between bushfire-resilient design and Passive House design principles and discuss the requirements of AS 3959 “Construction of building in bushfire-prone areas”.

Weather Defence™ by Siniat is a rigid air barrier most commonly used in ventilated facades or rainscreens to provide a pressure-equalised air cavity. Weather Defence is also used in bushfire applications in residential buildings, specifically in the roof system, where it provides BAL-FZ protection to residential builds in bushfire prone areas.

Download this whitepaper for a survey of the current landscape of bushfire design in Australia.