Why is this work relevant for Innovation?

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Australian homes are destroyed or damaged by extreme weather. To help solve this problem, Suncorp partnered with the CSIRO, James Cook University and Room 11 Architects to create ‘‘One House To Save Many’. The world’s first home designed, scientifically tested, and built to withstand cyclones, floods and bushfires. As well as providing the blueprint for Australia’s future homes, One House is changing the way Suncorp does business. In an industry-first product, the “Build it Back Better” promise applies the resilience learnings from One House to every home that Suncorp rebuilds.

Background

Every year, during Australia’s ‘Storm Season’ (November to April), hundreds of thousands of homes are destroyed or damaged by extreme weather. And thanks to climate change, it’s only getting worse. In fact, entire communities in North Queensland are no longer insurable. So Suncorp, one of Australia's largest insurers, briefed us to create a campaign that would help make Australian’s more prepared for future storms. Create awareness about Suncorp products. And demonstrate Suncorp’s commitment to Australia’s resilience. It was to be a fully integrated campaign, including brand and product TV, OOH, print, socia, radio and digital utility. And the primary audience was the State of Queensland, with an ideal PR reach including the rest of Australia.

Describe the idea

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Australian homes are destroyed or damaged by extreme weather. And each year nothing changes. We just pick up the pieces, rebuild the same way, and hope it won’t happen again. And with the ever-increasing effects of climate change, the problem is only getting worse. To help solve this enormous problem, Suncorp partnered with the CSIRO (science organisation), James Cook University and Room 11 Architects to create ‘One House To Save Many’. The world’s first home designed, scientifically tested, and built to withstand cyclones, floods and bushfires. One House is the blueprint for the future of Australian housing. Enabling Australians to live in harmony with nature, and not in fear of it. The project launched with a national ad campaign and prime time documentary. The learnings from One House were then made available to the public and presented to government institutions and national building companies.

What were the key dates in the development process?

The idea was first presented to Suncorp in mid 2019 as a response to a brief leading into the upcoming ‘Storm Season’. It was quickly decided that this project would take significantly more time, so it was decided that it would become a bigger initiative for Suncorp to prove their credibility as a leader in ‘Resilience’. The design and planning process started in December 2020. This included the Architects and scientists discussing approaches and what might work as a potential design. The design approach and materials were tested at the CSIRO fire testing facility and James Cook University cyclone testing facility throughout 2020. Adjustments were then made to the design. The final built prototype of ‘One House’ was filmed in a storm simulated environment in early December 2020. The campaign launched in April 2021 with a 23 minute documentary, PR, advertising campaign (including TV, OOH, Radio, Print, Social), and an online hub. As a result of the learnings, Suncorp decided to create a new product. In an industry-first, Suncorp Insurance launched the “Build it Back Better” promise that applies the resilience learnings from One House to every home they rebuild. This product was launched alongside ‘One House’.

Describe the innovation / technology

‘One House To Save Many’ is the world’s first home designed, scientifically tested, and built to withstand cyclones, floods and bushfires. It is a blueprint for the future of Australian housing. To create it, we brought leading experts in home resilience together for the first time. Room 11 architects (sustainable architecture), The CSIRO (bushfire), James Cook University (storm and flood), And Suncorp, who have been insuring homes in Australia for over 100 years. The challenge was to create an affordable, scalable and liveable home. This meant that the resilience experts had to be incredibly inventive in the way they applied their knowledge. Due to the unique diversity of our working team; many of the innovative solutions were multi-faceted. For example, the steel mesh screens on the balcony, not only protected from flying debris during cyclones, but also protected from bushfire embers. The visual and lifestyle inspiration was a piece of classic Australian architecture, ‘The Queenslander’. This common Australian style of home has a second floor living area to protect against flooding, and wrap around balconies to create shade and air flow. Explore all the features in the interactive hub: https://onehouse.suncorp.com.au/explore

Describe the expectations / outcome

The campaign reached 99% of the target audience (through paid and earned), and was widely covered across every major Australian news network (20M+ impressions). Including prominent features on current affairs programs and morning shows. The documentary also aired multiple times on a major broadcast network (channel 9). In the first few weeks, Suncorp received inquiries from 13 leading industry and research stakeholders, 4 of Queensland’s largest city councils, and 2 national building companies interested in partnering with Suncorp to scale One House across the country. Led by Suncorp, the Insurance Council of Australia has now launched Project Resilience – that aims to embed resilience into the National Construction Code by 2025. And several weeks after launch, the Federal Government announced a $600 million resilience fund for new disaster preparation and mitigation programs. In addition, we’ve seen 110,000+ unique visitors to the website, with a 3.7 minute average dwell time.