ABSTRACT
Introduction Predicting the impact of climate change on manufactured and natural systems is, given the complexities of the systems and the uncertainties in the modelling, a difficult and contentious area of research. However, it is a fact based upon reliable thermometer measurements taken over the last 150 years that global temperatures have risen. There is also a general scientific consensus that climate change arising from global warming is the result of increased greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. Envisaged future changes to weather patterns, based on various emission scenarios, have geographical variations, but the major foreseen changes include warmer and drier summers, milder and wetter winters and rising sea levels. In addition, extreme events may include an increased number of very hot days, more intense periods of rain and a greater frequency of storms. Most of the current building stock will still be in use in 50 years’ time and historical weather data will have been used to calculate building performance and needs. However, it is not clear how relevant these calculations will be 50 years from now for what may be a very different prevailing climate. In this chapter the potential impacts of climate change on buildings will be discussed and the options for changes to building design to make buildings more resilient to future climates will be considered (see also Sanders and Phillipson, 2003; TCPA, 2007; Wilby, 2007).
