ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes predicted climatic changes and arising design implications and adaptations, both for site planning, building design and during construction. Buildings are usually designed with a lifespan of around 60 years. When designing buildings, it is increasingly useful to test how robust the building design will perform in a future predicted climate. Many measures are easily implemented simply by planning ahead and thinking differently about site and building design. Building precedents in Mediterranean countries, for example, can teach us how to adapt our buildings to cope with increased summer temperatures. If we know that our buildings may need solar shading, we have to design for this, even if shading is only installed when it becomes necessary. For example, this means that we need to specify shutter fixings and inward-opening windows right now, which will allow sufficient cross-ventilation when external shutters are fixed in the future.
