Introducing prediction for designing climate-resilient infrastructure

By John Rees 2024-01-02T07:00:00

Construction has traditionally relied on precedence to prepare for events that may affect our buildings, but the past is no longer a reliable indicator to the future, writes John Rees of COWI in the UK

There is consensus that climate change is increasing the frequency, duration and severity of weather events that affect the ability of our infrastructure to function as intended. All environmental loads (temperature, wind, ice, snow, rain and combinations thereof) are changing.

For the past century or so, the construction industry has relied on precedence – the use of historic weather records to predict the likelihood of future events. This has served the industry well and much of the knowledge extracted from these records has been condensed into standards and codes of practice, allowing designers to adopt a consistent approach to designing reliable infrastructure, almost all of which has stood the test of time. So far…

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