Deep Dive with Doug Bellomo
Our Deep Dive series features our technical experts who give you an inside look at how we are solving complex infrastructure challenges for our clients from across the world.
This week, we are highlighting Doug Bellomo, a flood risk management expert from our global Water business line, based in Arlington, Virginia. Doug shares how he and his team conducted a study that demonstrates the lifesaving and economic benefits of disaster resilient building codes.
Doug specializes in flood risk management and emergency services. Following his previous tenure with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), he moved to AECOM to pursue his interest in private sector innovations and solutions that help shape public policy and create more resilient communities, businesses and natural landscapes. Prior to joining us five years ago, he oversaw the execution of several federal programs including FEMA Risk MAP, National Dam Safety Program and FEMA’s Mitigation Planning Operations with an average annual budget of $260 million.
Tell us about a project that has impacted or been a major highlight of your career. How is it delivering a better world?
What drew me to AECOM was its mission of delivering a better world. I researched the company, talked to people, and decided AECOM would be a good fit for me. Public service, flood risk reduction, building community resilience and delivering positive environmental and social outcomes have always been a big part of why I do what I do — and that’s also the case for so many of my colleagues at AECOM.
Having witnessed firsthand the devastating impacts of flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, I am grateful to be able to play a part in promoting the value of disaster-resistant building codes. In 2020, I worked on a FEMA project called “Building Codes Save: A Nationwide Study of Loss Prevention,” which demonstrates how disaster-resilient building codes can prevent the direct losses — economic harm and human suffering — often caused by three types of natural hazards that are earthquakes, flooding and hurricane winds. It compares average annual losses between buildings designed with higher codes versus minimum codes. AECOM, as part of the COMPASS Joint Venture (JV), played a pivotal role in managing the work and developing the analytical framework, which was based on a database of 18 million buildings, the hazard frequency in each locality, and the type of building code in effect at the time. This work resulted in user-friendly materials with actionable guidance to help emergency management professionals, policymakers and others adopt modern building codes and avoid future losses.
Having witnessed firsthand the devastating impacts of flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, I am grateful to be able to play a part in promoting the value of disaster-resistant building codes. This work resulted in user-friendly materials with actionable guidance to help emergency management professionals, policymakers and others adopt modern building codes and avoid future losses.”
What was a key challenge you/your team faced while working on this project? How did you solve it?
The technical side was difficult. There is no detailed national data set of adopted building codes. We had to comb through various resources to make sure the data accurately represented which elements of codes were adopted. We also experienced a lot of challenges around organizing the data sets, making sure the data was aligned and distilling credible results at the end. We worked closely with the client to effectively meet their objectives in a technically sound manner, despite a variety of constraints.
The COMPASS JV team and I collaborated with AECOM communications specialists to help FEMA develop a brochure of the findings. Despite the benefits of resilience outweighing the costs of resilient construction, we discovered that as much as 65 percent of U.S. counties do not have modern building codes.
We also sought to predict how hazard resilience may change over time. With an expected average of 577,000 new buildings per year, approximately 13.9 million buildings will be added to the U.S. inventory between 2016 and 2040. We projected that about 70 percent (approximately 9.7 million) will be built to international codes (I-codes) or similar codes. Based on results of the Average Annualized Losses Avoided (AALA) — a risk-based metric —the cumulative savings will be $132 billion. That number would grow significantly if there was broader adoption of modern codes.
Since the study’s publication, the federal government (through its Federal Flood Risk Management Standard) and the American Society of Civil Engineers have continued the push to improve resilient building design. It is really exciting to see the continuing conversation around the importance of building codes.
The COMPASS JV team and I collaborated with AECOM communications specialists to help FEMA develop a brochure of the findings. Despite the benefits of resilience outweighing the costs of resilient construction, we discovered that as much as 65 percent of U.S. counties do not have modern building codes.”
How has AECOM enabled you and your teams to cultivate the expertise needed to deliver this project and future work like it?
I have always been impressed with AECOM’s breadth of experts and capabilities, including the architects who take concepts and present them in much more compelling ways than the tables and charts engineers often use. As an engineer with a flood hazard and risk management background, having access and opportunities to learn from experts in other fields has been a great way for me to develop professionally. I also learned a lot from our communications experts during this study. I am a big fan of these experts because they help us to simplify complicated information and make it more accessible to the public and decision makers.
As an engineer with a flood hazard and risk management background, having access and opportunities to learn from experts in other fields has been a great way for me to develop professionally.”