The is the first guidance of its kind to directly connect projected climate change impacts with their physical effects on geotechnical and geoenvironmental conditions across the full development life cycle.
As the UK experiences hotter, drier summers, warmer, wetter winters, rising sea levels, and more intense storm events, the geo-based risks facing land development projects are becoming increasingly difficult to predict and manage.
The 2022 heatwave triggered 23,000 subsidence claims, with Association of British Insurers (ABI) members expected to pay an estimated 拢219m, the highest annual subsidence payout since 2006. In 2023, Storm Babet collapsed bridges and caused widespread infrastructure damage across the UK.
Shrink-swell in clay soils, greater flood frequency, shifting groundwater regimes, and increased landslide risk all carry significant implications for project viability, asset lifespan, insurance, financing, and regulatory compliance.
The new guidance aims to offer a consolidated framework for addressing these risks consistently. The guide is structured in two parts. Part 1 sets out the current state of knowledge on climate change and its physical effects on geo-based risks. Part 2 presents a good practice framework for managing and mitigating those projected impacts, supported by diagrams, practical tools, and case studies.
Work on the guide was funded by Heathrow, whose senior environmental engineer, Gayle Barclay, said, "This document is the first of its kind to directly link projected climate change impacts with their physical effects and implications for geotechnical and geoenvironmental risks. It is a timely and much-needed resource supporting the integration of climate resilience into land development and good practice in risk management."