Report shows urgent climate adaptation spells opportunity for construction

The Climate Change Committee, a non-departmental statutory body set up to advise on climate policy, has urged the government and private sector to spend up to £11bn a year into the 2050s to prevent mass loss of life and cascading economic disruption caused by global heating.

Around two-thirds of the money should go to built environment measures to prevent overheating buildings, floods and drought.

CIOB has backed the report published today, called A Well-Adapted UK.

“We welcome the report’s recognition that the UK remains underprepared for the impacts of a changing climate, from extreme heat to heavy storms,” said Amanda Williams, head of environmental sustainability.

“Without legislation and incentives to ensure new homes and buildings are water-efficient, not contributing to and resilient from flooding, and protected from overheating, the risks to human health will continue to grow.”

The report warns that by 2050, 92% of homes are likely to overheat, peak river flows will be up to 45% higher, and water supply shortfalls could exceed five billion litres a day.

It says doing nothing will end up costing much more than £11bn a year. Without adaptation, the cost to public welfare is predicted to rise to between 1%-5% of UK GDP by 2050 under a 2°C global warming level.

That’s equivalent to between £60bn and £260bn a year.

“Our lives, our landscapes and our homes are under increasing pressure from the changing climate. But we are not powerless,” said Baroness Brown, chair of the CCC’s Adaptation Committee.

“In an increasingly unstable world, being well adapted to climate change is fundamental to securing our food, energy and economic security.  

“This report carries a message of hope. The solutions already exist, and proven technologies are available now to help the UK adapt effectively. With the right decisions and actions, we can protect the people and the places we love.

“We can protect patients and residents in overheated hospitals and care homes, children in nurseries and schools, and communities facing repeated flooding. We can support our farmers to maintain our food supplies. And we can keep sports pitches usable, high streets open for business, and iconic British music festivals running safely.”

She added: “The public wants to see change and the government now has an opportunity to step up and protect our way of life.”

Here are the main recommendations affecting construction.

To stop excess heat deaths rising from an upper range of 3,000 a year today to upwards of 10,000 a year by 2050, active cooling must be improved in hospitals, schools, prisons and care homes, the Committee says.

The government should legislate for maximum working temperatures to regulate privately provided services like care homes.

New buildings should be designed to keep people cool from the outset.

Low-cost passive cooling measures like natural shading may be sufficient interventions in some parts of the country.

Cooling represents the biggest cost item of all recommended actions, comprising 35% of the total.

Flood management is the next biggest item, at 21%.

The Committee wants to see between £1.6bn and £2.2bn spent each year on sea and river flood defences, emergency response and harnessing wetlands.

The government should also manage development in flood-prone areas carefully, avoiding new construction where risks are not adequately reduced. 

Current projections estimate a five billion litre per day shortfall of public water supplies in England by 2050, assuming we stay below 2°C of global warming.

The Committee says dry parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales face a similar risk.

For construction, this means building reservoirs and pipelines to transfer water from wetter regions to drier ones.

It also means tackling leakage and cutting demand by standardising more water-efficient buildings and homes.

This item represents 11% of the required expenditure.

The report also calls for other measures, such as adapting transport, energy and telecommunications systems to work under extreme heat.

Farmers need help making climate-resilient decisions about crop diversification and on-farm water storage.

The Committee also called for urgent clarity on the future of flood reinsurance, including the Flood Re scheme, ahead of its current 2039 end date.

CIOB’s Williams said: “The recently published Future Homes Standard provides an opportunity to ensure new homes are more resilient to extreme climates, but it’s important the standards are clearly defined, delivered and maintained.

“We urge the government to take the findings of the Climate Change Committee report seriously and listen to experts from across the construction sector, who will ultimately be responsible for delivering the resilient infrastructure and buildings it highlights.”