You have not accepted cookies yet

This content is blocked. Please accept marketing cookies. You can do this here.

1,200 buildings

Size of asset portfolio

1.6 °C - 4.3°C

Range of temperature increases considered

Better understanding

of future climate impacts across the organization
  • THE CHALLENGE
  • THE SOLUTION
  • THE IMPACT
  • CAPABILITIES

Currently Viewing

THE CHALLENGE

The challenge

The impacts of climate change are being felt all around the world. Temperatures are rising, rainfall patterns are changing, and our vulnerability to extreme weather events such as heatwaves and floods is increasing. This can impact buildings of all types, particularly older properties that are not built to withstand the changing climate patterns we are experiencing today. This was a concern for our client, a UK Government Department responsible for a portfolio of more than 1,200 buildings around the country. The department needed to understand not only how climate change might impact the physical condition of its assets, but also how any consequences – for example from flooding – would disrupt normal day-to-day operations within the building itself. This information was a critical input for the department as it prioritized actions to help mitigate and reduce related risks.

The solution

In helping our client respond to the scale of the challenge, we needed to strike a balance between reflecting site-specific details concerning individual properties and maintaining a portfolio-level overview of wider climate risks and responses. This meant we had to define a single methodology that could be accurately applied across more than 1,200 building assets owned and managed by our client.

Assessing climate change risk

We started by working with the client to map existing data relating to the location, size, and operation of buildings across its portfolio. This enabled us to develop a greater understanding of any gaps in the data, as well as any assumptions that would be reasonable to make. This paved the way for us to develop a standard methodology for assessing climate risk, which could be applied not only to the existing portfolio but also to any future assets.

  • Read more

The impact

Our approach has given the client a better understanding of both current and future risks associated with the impacts of climate change across its property portfolio. By combining our expertise in climate risk assessment, we have developed a flexible approach that maximized both the accuracy and usefulness of the outputs.

In developing an adaptation framework for this particular client, we outlined a comprehensive and flexible approach to identify, manage, and mitigate near-term risks, while simultaneously allowing for later improvements in data and climate change responses. In turn, this supports more detailed, evidence-based risk assessments over time, allowing for the development of new adaptation pathways as more information becomes available, or as more assets are added to the portfolio.

This gave our client of the knowledge it needs to better manage its buildings over the longer term, future-proofing the portfolio while considering different climate change scenarios and the severity of potential climate-related impacts.


Used capabilities

Connect with {name} for more information & questions

Arcadis will use your name and email address only to respond to your question. More information can be found in our Privacy policy