By Interim Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simon Evans

A year on from the 14 October 2021 tornado that ripped apart the northern section of UNE’s campus, I have to concede that much of the area still looks like a disaster zone. But behind the barrier fencing, there has been considerable progress. Months of work to restore campus functionality will start to yield visible results in 2023.

The tornado damaged 22 University buildings, 13 of them in active use by staff and students, requiring relocation. These buildings had to be individually assessed for structural damage, and then the degree of damage weighed against assessment of each building’s remaining useful life.

Those buildings assessed as having ongoing value then had to be proofed against the weather. Tarps were used while teams progressively repaired or replaced roofs. This phase of the work is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.

Weatherproofing will be followed by repairs to damaged internal finishes. The scope of this work is being determined in consultation with stakeholders and supported by professional advice.

Work on this stage will continue into 2023, with completion dependent on the scope of the repairs that it is possible to carry out. (Negotiations are ongoing with UNE’s insurer regarding the level of compensation for damage to buildings and the impact on UNE’s business continuity.)

Importantly, two key UNE assets, Lazenby Hall and the Stro Cafe, are scheduled to be reopened in the first quarter of 2023.

Other buildings will not survive. E015, E017 and C014 will be demolished later this year, and the sites landscaped. Signage will be installed to recognise the historic value of these buildings. Clean up after natural disasters elsewhere in the State have affected the availability of contractors to carry out this work.

Campus map showing buildings scheduled for demolition.

The viability of a number of other buildings is still being discussed with the insurer. Estate and Built Environment (EBE) is also updating the Strategic Asset Management Plan to reflect the post-tornado condition of the campus buildings. This will be reflected in the development of the Campus Strategy and Prospectus.

The storm damaged more than our buildings. Hundreds of trees, many of them far older than the University, were destroyed. That also meant a devastating loss of habitat for many of the native birds and animals that quietly share the campus with its human occupants.

Scientists from the School of Environmental and Rural Sciences (ERS) have collaborated with EBE to establish alternative habitats across the campus.

True to UNE’s purpose of knowledge generation, this work will support research in the use of artificial hollows (and provide an excellent teaching and learning resource for students, creating a living laboratory right here on campus).

In the tornado clean up, EBE preserved as much natural habitat as possible. Following advice from ERS ecologists, 150 artificial hollows have also been installed. (Trees with green and pink markers are a part of the trial). Clusters have been established in dead and living trees to introduce further variables into the study.

Researchers in ERS plan to undertake a full assessment of hollow usage later in the year. An update will be provided following their assessment.

The tornado, and the COVID pandemic that it was concurrent with, were stern tests of UNE’s resilience.

Although restoration of the storm damage is unavoidably slower than anyone would like, the underlying message is a positive one. The University rallied well to these disasters, adapting swiftly and maintaining business continuity despite the novelty of the challenges.

On behalf of us all, I would like to thank those who have been part of the recovery efforts, and thus carried UNE relatively smoothly through a succession of crises. I would also like to acknowledge the patience of those who are still displaced while repairs are carried out or permanent work locations determined.

We all hope that this particular crisis is now behind us for a while – and look forward to the coming milestones, including appropriate celebrations of the reopening of Lazenby and the Stro in the new year.