ABSTRACT
The latest is the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report, which reported findings based on 23 sophisticated climate models from 11 countries around the globe, including two from the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre, one of the world’s leading centres for climate-science research. In 2008, the Climate Change Act was passed, setting the world’s first long-term legally binding targets for emissions reduction and establishing the independent Committee on Climate Change. The impact of climate change is particularly pertinent to the construction industry, simply because buildings last a long time. The regional variations in climate that already exist across the UK are projected to increase somewhat. Designers are often involved at the inception of a building project, advising their client on feasibility, helping to set the brief and, with an emerging agenda like adaptation, making their client aware of wider issues that they may not have taken into account.
