Not Business As Usual
PROJECT
Three years after the 2022 Northern Rivers floods, Lismore’s businesses and community service providers have demonstrated remarkable resilience, creativity, and innovation. While there is much to celebrate, significant challenges remain—challenges that require collaboration and support from local and state governments.
Not Business as Usual will harness the collective expertise of businesses and community service providers operating on the Lismore floodplain and ensure their insights help better prepare for future floods.
It will do so through a series of adaptation story videos, a workshop, and a design proposal.
Business adaptation stories
March – June 2025
A video series showcasing real world examples of resilience and adaptation within the business and service provider community. These stories will highlight practical solutions implemented to prepare for future disasters, including retrofitting strategies, evacuation plans, alternative business models and innovative operational approaches.
Workshop
May 2025
A workshop will build on insights from the video series, bringing together local businesses and community service providers to explore necessary infrastructure solutions that enhance resilience. This session will encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing to identify practical, community-driven approaches for protecting organisations operating in flood-prone areas.
Design proposal
June 2025
The insights and ideas generated from the workshops will be compiled into a design proposal aimed at providing coordinated flood preparedness infrastructure plans. A key focus will be identifying a flood-free location that can serve as a business and service provider shelter and storage hub during flood events while maintaining a valuable function during regular operations. The proposal will also document other innovative strategies and solutions that emerge from the workshop.
Music rooms at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium, following rooms to make the building flood-resilient. Photo by Elise Derwin.
Project outcomes
The final proposal, including the business adaptation stories, workshop outcomes and design proposal, will be submitted to the NSW Reconstruction Authority and Lismore City Council to inform future planning and support business resilience efforts.
This information will be made publicly available via the Living Lab Northern Rivers website.
Project collaborators
Read more about the team working on Not Business as Usual below.
Craig Allchin
Director, Six Degrees Urban
Craig will compile the design proposal using insights and ideas generated from the business adaptation stories and Look Ahead: Community Design for Lismore project,workshops, technical information and global best practices.
Craig is an urban designer/director who has practiced in architecture and strategic planning.
He has worked on the city across a range of scales. In the 1990’s, as a founding partner of Six Degrees Architects, Craig worked on recycling and renewal projects around the revitalization of the Melbourne City Centre.
Lismore-based businesses and services providers
Lismore-based businesses and services providers operating on the floodplain will contribute firsthand knowledge and innovative solutions through the business adaptation stories and workshop.
