IT1.08 - fact sheet http://tyndall.e-collaboration.co.uk/publications/fact_sheets/untitled/it1...

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How will changing temperature extremes affect buildings?

Today's buildings are designed to have a long lifetime - most will last beyond the end of this century. Increasing numbers
of extreme hot days, changing lifestyles and new technologies will have implications for building design, such as whether
air conditioning or natural ventilation are used. Therefore, information about extreme weather over the next 50 to 100
years is essential for the design of comfortable, energy-efficient and safe buildings.

Dr Geoff Levermore, from UMIST's Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, is leading a team of researchers
constructing future weather data to test how climate change will affect comfort, energy use and carbon emissions in
current and future buildings.

The team will use observed temperature data to compare changes in averages to changes in extremes, and relate these to
atmospheric circulation. They will compare this data to that simulated by global and regional climate models, to establish
confidence in the simulation of future extreme temperatures. They will also consider changes in solar radiation, wind and
humidity, which influence building design. This information will be used to create hourly weather data for the reference
years 2025 and 2050.

The researchers will simulate building performance in the UK to investigate how today's buildings will increase their energy
use, for example due to increases in air conditioning. They will also use the data to investigate ways buildings can reduce
their carbon emissions.

The initial results will be shared in April 2002 at an international conference, Climate Change and the Built Environment,
organised as part of the project to exchange ideas on how countries in other climates are coping with extremes. The
resulting data sets will be available for researchers, designers and regulators to take climate change into account when
planning new buildings.

Future weather data is being constructed so designers can test how buildings will cope in extreme conditions.
© M. Robinson

More information

Contact the lead investigator of Project IT1.8 (Accuracy of modelled extremes of temperature and climate change and its
implications for the built environment in the UK):
Dr Geoff Levermore
Department of Civil and Construction Engineering
UMIST, PO Box 88, Manchester, M60 1QD
Phone: +44 (0)161 200 4257 Fax.: +44 (0)161 200 4252
email: geoff.levermore@manchester.ac.uk

Other researchers involved in this project are:

Professor Phil Jones, Professor Ben Brabson, Dr Jean Palutikof, Dr Tim Osborn and David Lister, Climatic Research Unit,
University of East Anglia
Professor Patrick Laycock, Professor John Page and David Chow, UMIST
Dr Koen Steemers, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge
Dr Tom Markvart, School of Engineering Science, University of Southampton

Project duration:
April 2001 to August 2003

Useful web sites:

The Tyndall Centre: www.tyndall.ac.uk

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IT1.08 - fact sheet http://tyndall.e-collaboration.co.uk/publications/fact_sheets/untitled/it1...

UMIST's Department of Civil and Construction Engineering: www.manchester.ac.uk/civilandconstruction

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers: www.cibse.org
International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction: www.cibworld.nl

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