Preparing strata titled communities for climate change: an empirical examination

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to advance a set of recommendations concerned with enhancing residential strata title (ST) communities’ preparation for property management in a world of climate change (CC) and second, to examine the Australian ST community’s perceptions of the recommendations advanced. Design/methodology/approach – The study comprised three empirical phases: three meetings with an 11 person industry reference group, conduct of 18 exploratory interviews and also an on-line questionnaire survey. The survey was designed to gauge the relative merit of sixteen recommendations developed during the study’s exploratory interview phase. The survey was completed by 450 individuals representing a broad cross-section of ST stakeholders. Findings – The study’s findings are extensive. Amongst them it is notable that the survey respondents ranked procedures taken prior and during a ST building’s construction as more important CC management opportunities than steps and procedures implemented post-building construction. Research limitations/implications – While considerable care was taken to approach the analysis of interview data in an objective manner, it should be acknowledged that, like any research based on qualitative data, a researcher’s background is bound to introduce some biases in the way that themes in the collected data are determined and interpreted. Practical implications – The range of practical implications arising from the study are very evident from the range of issues addressed in the 16 recommendations advanced by the study. These implications range widely from internal management suggestions such as identifying a CC champion in ST complexes, to insurance issues such as creating a low insurance or “uninsurable” ST building category. Social implications – The survey findings reveal the extent to which expressed opinions concerning how best to adapt ST buildings and communities for CC are affected by the stakeholder group that is expressing the opinion. This highlights the likelihood that any new ST policy making relating to CC is likely to become highly politicised due to conflicting lobbying interests represented by these distinct ST stakeholders. Originality/value – The study is believed to embody an exceedingly high level of originality. It is the first to: provide an examination of the vulnerability of ST complexes to CC, and advance recommendations concerned with changes that should be made to the building and management of ST complexes in order to address the CC challenge.