Unit owners in some of Brisbane's older apartment blocks are having to pay six-figure body corporate bills to install new water pumps and water storage facilities to ensure firefighters have sufficient water pressure to fight fires.

Changes to Australia's National Construction Code a year ago required the installation of fire hydrant systems and fire pumps in residential buildings of between three and eight storeys.

Kangaroo Point is among several suburbs where problems surrounding the installation of expensive firefighting equipment in unit blocks are being felt. Credit:Tony Moore

It has led to bodies corporate having to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars, including $250,000 at a Woody Point block of six units and $100,000 at a complex in Kangaroo Point.

Unit blocks without the equipment could be deemed non-compliant and therefore uninsured.