Adapting buildings to climate change

A new report, from Arup and Saint-Gobain explores the changes designers, architects, engineers, developers and investors need to make to ensure buildings better withstand the growing impacts of extreme weather events and conditions.

Increasing frequency and severity of hazards such as heatwaves, floods, extreme rainfall, storms, and wildfires is a reality across all continents and regions. Between 2000 and 2019, 7,000 major climate-related disasters caused nearly US$3 trillion in losses worldwide. This number reflects thousands of destructive events that impact on the lives of people and communities.

The challenge facing the global property sector is a dual one: coping with multiplying impacts of more extreme weather events and conditions while limiting the contribution buildings make to further warming, resource depletion and energy demand.

The new report emphasises the need to integrate climate adaptation into both new construction and the retrofit of existing buildings, supported by forward looking climate risk assessments, evolving regulations, and investment. It identifies three complementary design approaches, robustness, adaptiveness, and flexibility, to help buildings perform under uncertain future climate conditions.

To translate adaptation into action, the report presents five key families of construction solutions:

1. Thermal envelope systems
2. Solar protection systems
3. Green building envelopes and green infrastructure
4. Heat reflective and stormwater permeable surfaces
5. Enhanced resistance protective systems

A central finding is that climate resilience is most effective when solutions are delivered as integrated, performance-based systems, rather than isolated products. The report is also a valuable guide for those keen to develop new thinking and practices around sustainable building design, and for all who share our commitment to the rapid adaptation of the buildings and infrastructure