Blue Mountains News

The conference, presented by Blue Mountains City Council in partnership with Blue Mountains Economic Enterprise, brought together experts and industry professionals to discuss research, case studies and best practices for building in bushfire prone areas.

Blue Mountains Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill, said: “It is my great pleasure to open the 10th annual Australian Bushfire Building Conference. As continuous sponsors of this conference, Blue Mountains City Council is proud of this important event and how central it is to developing new ideas on urban planning that have benefitted communities across Australia.”

The conference was first held as a response to the 2013 bushfire event, when more than 200 Blue Mountains homes were lost.  It has grown to become Australia’s premier event for professionals involved in all aspects of building in bushfire-prone areas.

The Australian Bushfire Building Conference builds partnerships for change through its focus on cross-sector collaboration and facilitates discussion of how governments of all levels regulate planning around building on bushfire prone lands.  

This year’s conference theme was “Sustainable Solutions, enduring legacy: Australian Bushfire Building Conference celebrates a decade of learning”, which echoes Council’s focus on leading a Sustainable Blue Mountains.

Cr Greenhill said: “This conference is a chance for industry professionals to share ideas and tackle issues together, to keep our communities safe.

“By leveraging this industry community, we can achieve improved outcomes in the way communities build on land that has a high bushfire risk, like our Blue Mountains.

“As one of only two Cities in the world within a UNESCO declared World Heritage area, we take our stewardship role of the Blue Mountains – one of the most bushfire-prone regions in the world – very seriously.”

The Australian Bushfire Building Conference’s two-day program of presentations, demonstrations, workshops, discussions and networking opportunities was held 11 - 13 September at the Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, Leura.