The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Research Project: Climate adaptation and standardisation procedures – Analysis of existing building standards and technical rules in the context of climate change

Project briefing

  • Status Completed
  • Project duration December 2019 – March 2022
  • Programme Future Building

The climate is changing: hazards from heat, floods and heavy rain are increasing. What does this mean for building standards and technical rules? How can standards help to make buildings more resilient?

Background

The impacts of climate change pose a challenge to the built environment. For example, increasing average temperatures raise the need for protection against high temperatures indoors. Changing precipitation patterns – such as the increase in heavy rainfall events – increase the importance of waterproofing of buildings and site drainage. Since standards and technical rules are decisive for the design of buildings, the question arises to what extent these can better take climatic changes into account. This is possible, for example, by updating references to historical temperature values, pointing out certain climate risks or highlighting individual possibilities for adaptation to climate change. In doing so, it is important to consider the uncertainties of future developments and possible additional costs due to higher safety levels.

The possibilities of standards to promote climate change adaptation activities have been considered in Germany for some time. In 2008, the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change recommended, among other things, the consideration of climatic developments in building standards. The Federal Government's Action Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change of 2011 also took up the topic and stated that the responsible standardisation bodies would work towards taking climate change into account. The goal should be to support the self-regulation of actors in dealing with the consequences of climate change through technical rules and standards. In the progress report on the German Adaptation Strategy (2015), the topic was taken up again, among other things with reference to positive developments in the field, such as the establishment of a working group at the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN) on adaptation to climate change. The first standards already take climate change into account, and at the same time new regulations are being developed to deal with this issue.

Objective

The project aimed to widen knowledge that can contribute to a more appropriate consideration of climate change in building standards. The project team identified those standards and technical rules in the building sector that may be affected by extreme weather events and climate change. The focus was also on standards that can support adaptation to the impact of climate change. In addition to DIN standards, the focus was also on standards of other rule-making institutions in Germany, such as the VDI guidelines or the DWA rules and regulations.

Contractors were adelphi in Berlin, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden, Ingenieurgesellschaft Prof. Dr. Sieker mbH in Hoppegarten.

Contact us

  • Dr. Stefan Haas
    Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
    Division WB 6 "Instrumente des ressourcenschonenden und klimaangepassten Bauens"
    Phone: +49 30 18401-3414
    Email: stefan.haas@bbr.bund.de

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