Deriving and using future weather data for building design from UK climate change projections: an overview of the COPSE Project

Abstract

Climate change has increasing implications for the economic and social life of the UK, as the reports of the UKCIP1 and the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 20122 make clear. In particular, it will impact on the performance of our built environment – our buildings and the civil infrastructure that supports our urban communities and our communications networks. Recognising this, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has funded successive programmes of research aimed at improving understanding of the impact of climate change on the built environment and into means of improving its adaptability and resilience. A recent phase of this research brought together a number of research projects, including COPSE, under the umbrella of the Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change (ARCC) Co-ordination Network (CN)3. The ARCC CN has sought to develop close links between those directly involved in the research, who are principally in universities, and prospective users of the outputs, such as policy-makers, architects and engineering consultants. To that end, it has held conferences and technical events, published summaries of the research programmes and issued regular newsletters, with the aim of promoting the outputs of the research and facilitating their application. This publication further contributes to that overall aim. Academic research is, rightly, first published in peer-reviewed journals where it can be subject to the scrutiny of other researchers, and the findings compared with those of similar studies. Journal publications are often, though, not easily accessible for practitioners who will be principally concerned with the findings and their implications rather than the methods through which they were obtained. By contrast, short non-technical summaries do not provide a suitable basis for application of the findings. This publication seeks to fill that gap, in that it offers an overview of the COPSE project which, while summarising the research undertaken, gives most attention to the outputs and their relevance for practitioners. By also providing full details of the publications from COPSE research, it facilitates further investigation by those who wish to take advantage of latest research findings