​In the aftermath of the flooding disaster in Grantham, in Queensland's Lockyer Valley, Mayor Steve Jones called upon Jamie Simmonds to lead the ‘Strengthening Grantham Project’ in 2011.

The first project of its kind in Australia, Jamie oversaw the effort of relocating much of the town to higher ground, ensuring the safety of the community from future flood events, whilst maintaining the social fabric and bonds that are so special for that community. 

Jamie Simmonds, the man behind the relocation of Grantham, was in Lismore yesterday, called on by Janelle Saffin MP, who told the Lismore App "Jamie has the best experience in this space, and we, the people of Lismore, deserve the best.”

Ms Saffin said this was a great opportunity for locals like South Lismore’s Harper Dalton, who established the Relocate Lismore Homes Facebook group, to link with a planning and development expert who nowadays advises disaster-affected communities globally on managed retreat.

Image: Harper, Ms Saffin and Jamie walk through Lismore discussing options for a planned retreat

“In 2011, Jamie was employed by Lockyer Valley Regional Council to run the Strengthening Grantham Project following devastating flash flooding which took the lives of 19 people,” Ms Saffin said.

“This groundbreaking project created, planned and constructed a new residential estate and provided land through Australia’s first land-swap process. Within 12 months of that flood event, 120 families were moving into their flood-free homes.

“I recently had a zoom meeting with Jamie where we had a good exchange of ideas, so I invited him to share his experience and knowledge with us here.”

Mr Simmonds thanked Ms Saffin and said he was looking forward to meetings she had arranged with Mr Dalton, and with representatives from Resilient Lismore, the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation and Lismore City Council.

Image: Ms Saffin, Jamie and Harper met to discuss house relocations

He said the relocation of Grantham, spearheaded by the late Lockyer Valley Mayor Steve Jones and supported by the Queensland (Queensland Reconstruction Authority included) and Federal governments, is regarded as one of the most successful examples of relocation in the world.

“In 2020, I wrote a book about the experience, Rising from the Flood: Moving the Town of Grantham, and since then, I’ve been a regular media contributor and speaker with national and international audiences, discussing how to effectively plan and implement recovery strategies, including relocation,” Mr Simmonds said.

“I’ve spent time in Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States, including speaking at the National Academy of Science in Washington DC and with the Council on Environmental Quality within the Biden Administration.

“I have shared my story with local communities, media organisations, academic institutions and government agencies from around the world struggling to understand how to rebuild devastated communities in a better way.

“As more severe weather events become more frequent, this experience is becoming increasingly useful to communities and decision-makers as they create a more resilient future.”

A fragile area for the future population of Lismore in the short term is the rental market. A significant portion of housing in South and North Lismore as well as the low-lying areas of the CBD were homes to hundreds of renters.

Jamie told The Lismore App “renters are a big part of the community, an important part, and there is absolutely a place to consider and include them in a relocation plan, effectively.”

“Whilst renters are naturally more able to be mobile, hence there is the possibility of losing them during the interim between disaster and relocation, they should be considered with an inclusion of social and affordable housing.”

Many Lismore hospitality, factory, retail, aged care, childcare and healthcare, plus agricultural workers resided here in rental accommodation prior to the floods.

Ms Saffin told The Lismore App "I have expressed that news before Xmas, even to some of the residents would be wonderful, I'd love if everyone knew where they stood, yesterday, but these things take time, and we do at least know, that everyone who has registered, will be informed of where they stand in this regard (which zone they fall in, and therefore what they may be eligible for in the scheme by the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Commission) by the end of February"

While more housing is imperative, Jamie also said in regards to Councils everywhere who are allowing DA and building of new homes in low-lying areas that "the time for a reckoning is upon us, to build homes that the families then need to be supported to move out of, or worse, to be rescued from their roof's is simply not acceptable."

Image: Harper Dalton of Relocate Our Homes wants to take his Cedar and Teak Hardwood Home to flood-free land, while maintaining his sense of community.

Something Harper Dalton of Lismores Relocate Lismore Homes initiative, whose home was a stop off on the tour today, agrees with and says is a big part of the reason he will not accept a house raise.

"I don't want to be entering the next phase of my life in the next 20 to 30 years, watching my neighbour's lives at stake, while I wait to be rescued."

​Jamie and his team successfully managed the Grantham relocation by implementing a historic and Australian-first land swap initiative. The project designed and constructed a new estate of 120 lots which were offered to the flood-devastated families of Grantham and the Lockyer Valley. It took only 11 months from the flood to see the first families moving into their new homes on higher ground - a timeline that has yet to be replicated anywhere else in the world. 

Jamie would continue to work with Mayor Jones in the years that followed the project, until Steve’s passing in 2016. It would then be three years until he would even think about Grantham or the project again.

It wasn't until an American university professor, Nicholas Pinter, who is an expert in the field of managed retreat, invited Jamie to the States to offer advice on towns that had undergone relocations. Whilst touring these communities, Professor Pinter would convince Jamie to document his experiences from the successful Grantham project in order to assist other teams around the world who are undertaking, or planning to undertake, similar relocations. 

Mr Simmonds is a Brisbane-based planning and development expert. He collaborates with specialists in resilience planning, disaster management and risk reduction, climate adaptation and flood engineering in Australia and across the globe. He is also a keen triathlete.

More information can be found on his webpage -- www.jamiesimmonds.com