Australia wasn’t even two months into 2020 when many regions had experienced not just bushfires, but flood and storm damage too and now we have moved onto self distancing and isolation because if COVID 19. 

When people consider natural disasters, they often consider the physical damage and clean-up relief efforts, or the emotional toll the loss of a home can have on people. But many don’t consider that once the clean-up is finished the land can often be permanently altered, for example a new gully or a change in physical property boundaries with a landslide. This is where surveyors and environmental engineers provide assistance in rebuilding communities. 

Land surveyors can assess, confirm, or if needed remap property boundaries to ensure fair distribution of land in conjunction with existing land records. Because of the change in landscape this requires careful and sophisticated measuring techniques, including angle measurement, position determination, reference networks and datums. The introduction of drone technology into this process, especially for coastal surveying after storms, has delivered a huge advancement in this area. 

Environmental engineers can prepare and undertake a wide variety of assessments including contaminated site, bushfire, hydrology and planning studies to help regulatory bodies, builders and/or landowners determine the most appropriate steps that need to be taken to ensure the new development meets planning and environmental regulations.

Natural disasters are unavoidable, but careful planning and seeking the right advice in the design stages of your project (from large infrastructure to residential developments) can hopefully minimise the damage caused to your assets. It’s in this planning that the value of a multi-disciplined consultancy such as Hanlons is best demonstrated, with one-team able to handle all facets of a project to ensure all bases are covered.