Disaster resilience retrofits 

The project retrofitted houses with measures to ensure the overall strength and resilience of the house during a disaster, specifically targeted towards prevention of damage caused by earthquakes, typhoons, and heavy rains. This provided safe space for families, increasing quality of life, while keeping the overall cost to a minimum. 

Habitability and Comfort 

• Prioritised both structural improvements as well as habitability measures to improve overall quality of life. 
• Addition of rooms for family members, providing better comfort and privacy. 

Community and Connectivity 

• Houses were improved using homeowner-driven reconstruction, prioritising the needs and interests expressed by the homeowners during the overall improvement process. 
• Avoided relocation and allowed the community to continue development and growth within the existing social fabric, with easy access to public transport, school, and employment. 

Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change 

• Use of resilient building materials, and best practices in design and engineering to safeguard the houses’ ability to withstand the local hazards. 
• Undertaken with locally available materials and with considerations of cultural norms around construction and housing to ensure appropriateness and longevity in the usage of the building. 

Resource Efficiency and Circularity 

• Each house was improved via structural improvement interventions, resulting in overall increased reuse of materials where appropriate and safe as compared to new construction. 
• Structural retrofits saved up to 69% of embodied carbon, and up to 26% when they included a vertical expansion component. 

Economic Accessibility 

• Homeowners gained access to a non-mortgage loan to undertake structural improvements, thereby building credit and undertaking incremental improvements in accordance with their resource availability and ability to repay. 
• Structural improvements on average cost 23% of the cost of new housing relative to new construction. 
• The project was in partnership with microfinance institutions. 

Awards: 

Averted Disaster Award – Intervention of Distinction. 

More information: 

https://buildchange.org/locations/the-philippines/