Climate Change & Built Environment

Climate change will also have an effect on the built environment, with flooding, heating and cooling issues as well as structural effects.

Flooding & storms: With 7,500 miles of coastline, flooding may occur in the UK where it hasn’t before. Combined with storm surges and hard surface run off increases in total winter rainfall and more intense summer downpours will increase flood risk in some areas. The damage caused by flooding normally affects buildings and their contents at basement and ground level. The amount of damage caused depends on the level that the water reaches within the property, but the cost of repair can extremely high. Combined with disputation to services, and increase.

The large amount of impervious material within towns and cities provides limited drainage routes for rainfall, particularly during intense downpours. The incorporation of green spaces and gardens are important for urban drainage.
Typical storm damage is breakage or removal of roof tiles and slates, or even the removal of an entire roof. Gable walls can also suffer damage due to suction forces. In general, tiles located at the eaves, verge and hip are most at risk because the wind uplift forces are greatest. The greater the pitch the smaller the risk — zero at a pitch of around 30 degrees.
Prolonged periods of rainfall can lead to some lighter-weight tiles becoming unexpectedly heavier due to water absorption. In extreme cases this can cause the roof to collapse.
Buildings & grounds maintenance: The collection of buildings and other structures in these urban areas result in significant changes to the local climate. The most apparent expression of this is commonly known as the urban heat island effect, where towns and cities are measurably warmer than surrounding rural areas, particularly at night. This increased thermal stress can put additional strain on people, materials, and buildings.
There Fewer trees and plants to cool buildings and intercept solar radiation increases water demand in large cities, especially in hot weather.
As temperatures rise there is more chance of soil drying out during spring and summer. Foundations in clay soils could be at particular risk. We are already seeing the effects — over the period 1987-1997 (the warmest decade on record) subsidence in the south-east alone cost the insurance industry £4.5 billion
Heating & cooling: Hotter UK summers will increase the demand for air-conditioning, while power cables will need more maintenance. Less heating will be needed in winter.
Higher temperatures could also cause water demand to rise. Many power stations use water from rivers to cool their turbines — less water will be available, increasing competition with other water users.

Floods

In the UK, many power stations are situated on the coast, so future planning will need to account for predicted sea-level rise.

Urban heat island

Cities, which tend to be much warmer than their surroundings, are responsible for 5 - 10% of air-conditioning use in the UK. 08 What does it mean for the world?