UK adaptation strategy and technical measures: the impacts of climate change on buildings

This paper discusses the importance of climate change for the UK building stock and reviews the predictions of the United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme 2002 (UKCIP02) scenarios for the future climate that are of relevance to buildings and construction. The possible impacts of these changes on flooding, wind damage, driving rain impact, subsidence and the internal environment of buildings are reviewed and the steps that might be taken to mitigate these impacts discussed. The current response of regulators, standardisation bodies, building owners and the insurance industry to these impacts is examined, and it is shown that each body acts in different ways to different impacts. Some bodies, such as government departments responsible for building regulations and the insurance industry, are taking the possibility of climate change very seriously. However, the uncertainty of future climate predictions, especially as regards wind speed, means that it is not easy to incorporate these issues in formal legislation. The whole culture of standardisation, which is based on well-established data, such as mean climate data over the last 30 years, makes it difficult for British and European Standards, which underpin regulations, to react to the changing climate.