Event Outline 

This course is split over two x half-days, participants must attend both days.

This full day course (split across two half-days) is designed to equip policy, strategic and statutory planners with an enhanced understanding of how bushfire behaviour interacts with the built environment and communities. This course is revised from previous years and in 2025, and features a comprehensive focus on bushfire resilient urban design. The course will cover bushfire behaviour and attack mechanisms and the planning and building framework as it relates to bushfire, in the Queensland context. 

The course will cover the following topics:

Day 1:

• The Queensland bushfire planning and building framework
• Bushfire behaviour and bushfire attack mechanisms
• Built environment and community resilience to bushfire hazard and risk
• Bushfire modelling approaches and bushfire hazard mapping

• Strategic planning and development assessment

Day 2:

•  Bushfire resilient urban design 

Designed For

Strategic and statutory planners, and urban designers, with a role in integrating and managing the built environment and community interface with bushfire hazard through planning policy, strategy, planning instruments, master planning and development assessment.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, attendees will:

• have an improved understanding of bushfire behaviour
• understand how bushfire leads to damage and loss and principles for well-located development related to bushfire hazard exposure
• better appreciate Queensland's current bushfire policy and technical environment
• have an enhanced understanding of how to have regard to bushfire hazard through strategic and development assessment processes
• be better equipped to identify the role of resilient urban design inputs and outcomes.

The course has drawn on feedback and insights from the private and public sector practicing professionals and for some components of the session will offer the opportunity for participants to meet and hear from some of these contributing representatives.

Registrations close 13 July 2026.

Presenter

Laura Gannon MPIA – Director, Meridian Urban Laura is the Director at Meridian Urban, and is a bushfire resilience and planning specialist with national experience. With almost 20 years of industry expertise, Laura focuses on the integration of natural hazard risk management into planning policy and strategy. Laura’s approach seeks to ‘think differently’ in reconciling the complex challenges associated with integrating land use planning, governance, emergency management and disaster risk mitigation processes. Laura’s extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of bushfire behaviour and risk assessment compliments her land use planning capabilities developed over many years of practice across Australia. Laura is a Level 3 Bushfire Planning and Design accredited practitioner with the Fire Protection Association of Australia. She is a member of the International Association of Wildland Fire and the US Natural Hazards Management Association, and was awarded PIA Queensland’s Outstanding Woman in Planning Award in 2022, as well as Australian Young Planner of the Year in 2011. Laura’s team at Meridian Urban also received the inaugural 2021 PIA Queensland Climate Change and Resilience Award for Planning Excellence for the Toowoomba Region Bushfire Risk Analysis. In 2023, Meridian Urban received an Award for Planning Excellence for the Natural Hazard Risk Assessments and Place-Based Land Use Policy Development Program alongside Ipswich City Council.

Important Note:

Please login 10 minutes before start time to test your audio and visual on both days. These sessions are hosted from QLD in AEST timezone.

AEST:09:00AM-01:00PM
AEDT:09:00AM-01:00PM
ACST:08:30AM-12:30PM
AWST:07:00AM-11:00AM

Terms & Conditions

Registrations cancelled more than 14 days prior to the event date will not incur any fees and a full refund will be granted.

If you cannot attend and you are within 14 days of the event date, you can transfer your ticket to another person.

In all other situations we cannot issue a refund or credit.

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