ABSTRACT
Buildings in the south east of the UK are going to have to be constructed like those in Scotland if weather predictions are correct. The UK Climate Impact Programme, UKCIP, sponsored by Defra, has projected the UK's future climate to the end of the century on a grid of 25 km squares, under the three IPCC emissions scenarios and with varying degrees of certainty. Extreme-weather adaptation measures to existing buildings may include: flooding, storms, and heat. The hard surfaces of urban environments, when not acting as an immense thermal mass, can also be an impermeable barrier to rainwater drainage, with no absorption, increasing the risk of flash floods. Risk assessments for climate change and adaptation measures are being prepared at all scales of governance, from the global to the impact on lives and businesses. They need to be developed for localities and individual buildings as part of the design process, and actions must be taken accordingly.
