Revisiting building safety and design in a time of climate change

Climate change will breed conditions where environmental parameters are exceeded more often and to a far greater degree. PHOTO: AFP
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Climate change will affect every aspect of our lives - including the buildings we live and work in. Most people in the United States, for example, spend about 90 per cent of their time indoors. Climate change is fundamentally altering the environmental conditions in which these buildings are designed to function.

Architects and engineers design buildings and other structures, like bridges, to operate within the parameters of the local climate. They're built using materials and following design standards that can withstand the range of temperatures, rainfall, snow and wind that are expected, plus any geological issues such as earthquakes, subsidence and groundwater levels.

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