To minimise the future need of carrying out works to adapt the building to take account of more extreme weather changes resulting from climate change and changing weather patterns.

• Maximise asset resilience and value through consideration of the likely impacts of future climate change on the project.
• Reduce future risks to end user safety arising from extreme weather events and climate change.
• Contribute to business continuity, planning in response to the risks of extreme weather events and climate change.
• Reduce the need for future adaptation, maintenance and disruption associated with responding to climate change and extreme weather events.

Annual average UK temperature was 0.9°C higher during the period 2005-2014 compared with 1961-1990. Moreover, sea levels around the UK have risen by 15-20 centimetres since 19001Committee on Climate Change. UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017: Synthesis report: priorities for the next five years. 2016. . These figures are forecast to continue to change as a result of climate change. At the same time, there are upward trends in rainfall across the UK. Higher levels of winter rainfall have been experienced often in increasingly heavy rainfall events leading to more flooding and damage to buildings and infrastructure. These patterns are consistent with projections of more and heavier rainfall for the UK in a warmer global atmosphere.

These changes increase health and safety risks to people and the built environment, increasing costs and disruption for repair and adaptation. The building stock will largely remain as it currently is for the next 50 to 60 years, given the relatively low levels of replacement that are likely to occur.

Therefore, there is a need for strategies to mitigate the impact of these events on our building stock overall and in particular to ensure that new buildings are designed and constructed to minimise future risks while avoiding over specification and resource use in the meantime.