Issues and opportunities

Renewal and refurbishment schemes offer the opportunity to improve the resilience of housing stock to climate change. Generally, it is more cost effective to fit adaptation measures to existing buildings during refurbishment projects than on an ad hoc basis, so it is worth considering changing climate risks over the planned lifetime of any refurbishment or renewal scheme at the design and specification stage. General advice on climate risks to buildings is available here.

Typically, the most important factors to be considered in relation to refurbishment projects are:

• Changing flood risks , coastal, fluvial, ground and surface water flooding , larger-scale renewal or refurbishment projects may offer opportunities to introduce SUDS approaches to managing surface water.
• Changes to average and extreme temperatures
• Efficient management of water resources

Other factors that may need to be considered include:

• Possible increases in frequency and severity of storms (high winds)
• Changes to groundwater conditions leading to greater risks of subsidence and heave

The specific climate risks that need to be considered for a given development will be related to:

• The geographical location of your authority
• The location of the site; and
• site-specific conditions

General guidance on the specification, design, and construction of new premises is available here. Some of this may be relevant to refurbishment and renewal projects.

Sources of advice

• Advice on retrofitting buildings for climate change
• Your Home in a Changing Climate: Retrofitting existing homes for climate change impact, Three Regions Climate Change Group, is a good source of advice on retrofitting adaptation measures.
• Homes for a changing climate, Will Anderson, illustrates the many ways in which houses can be designed, built and adapted to cope with climate change.
• A more comprehensive list of sources of advice on adapting housing to climate change is available on the New housing page. Some of this may also be relevant for refurbishment and renewal projects.

Examples

• The Three Regions Climate Change Group site provides some simple example case studies