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Demand increasing for fire resistant homes

24/11/2009

By Robert Carry

The growing urban sprawl surrounding Australia's capital cities has triggered an increase in demand for fire resistant homes, building advisory firm Archicentre, has claimed.

"Traditionally, people have seen fire resistant homes as a regional or rural issue, said Angus Kell, Archicentre's Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales state manager. "The urban sprawl is placing tens of thousands new homes on the fringe of major cities every year often interfacing with state forests."

According to the group, which acts as an advisor to the Australian Institute of Architects, the fires which swept through the suburbs of Canberra in 2003 and Black Saturday in Victoria earlier this year prompted homebuyers to focus more on the importance of fire resistant homes.

"Building fire resistant homes is just plain commonsense and a long term national community safety and economic strategy which should not be ignored, especially with Climate Change set to increase drought and bushfires," added Kell. He continued, "Anyone building a new home or renovating on the urban fringe should ensure fire prevention standards are included in their design and permit applications."

Accordingn to Archicentre, its pre-purchase inspections have revealed that the majority of homes built on the urban fringe of major cities fail to have appropriate fire prevention measures built into the design.

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