Climate Change Adaptation
Opportunities for Adapting Schools
to Climate Change
in the West Midlands
Report
April 2010
Report produced for the West Midlands Climate Change Adaptation
Partnership
Summary
This report indicates the need for a greater consideration of climate change adaptation
within the school environment and the utilisation of its development opportunities
through programmes like the Building Schools for the Future initiative, with a particular
focus on Birmingham. A review of case studies, design strategies and guidance available
informs some recommendation for future stages, highlighting the need for a more longterm vision for school projects and greater collaboration between various parties involved
in their design and construction.
Acknowledgements
The West Midlands Climate Change Adaptation Partnership (WMCCAP) (part of the
WM Climate Change Office) is grateful to Sabina Fazlic for researching and writing this
report. Sabina supported the WMCCAP through her student internship role organised
through RegenWM . Her work complements the West Midlands Schools - climate change
adaptation project being carried out by WMCCEE . This project will be reporting its
findings mid 2010.
Contents:
Introduction
1
Climate change in the West Midlands
2
Impacts on built environment
3
Birmingham BSF initiative
3
3
4
5
4
5
6
Whitecross High School and Specialist Sports College
Red Hill Primary School
Climate change adaptation checklist
7
10
13
7
8
Frameworks and guidance
Recommendations for future school development - wave 2
Conclusions
15
20
23
2
Introduction
The risks of climate change have been underlined and discussed in the public sphere for a
number of years, but action to address these threats has been less forthcoming. While the
building industry has at last begun to respond to the mitigation agenda of sustainability,
adaptation for irreversible climate change has yet to be considered. The Building Schools
for the Future (BSF) initiative is no exception. This report looks to draw attention to the
importance of climate change adaptation within the Building Schools for the Future
initiative in Birmingham, and to offer some strategies and resources for its incorporation.
In terms of structure, the report will introduce Birmingham’s climate change scenarios
and impacts, followed by a brief overview of the city’s BSF programme. Case studies of
schools in the West Midlands that have successfully addressed adaptation requirements
will serve to instigate a discussion on adaptive strategies, which are examined in more
detail thereafter. A section on existing guidelines that complement these strategies
follows, before a series of recommendations pertaining to specific roles is suggested.
While this report does not intend to provide extensive guidance on any particular project
or approach, it is hoped that it will draw attention to the fundamental issues of climate
change adaptation within the Birmingham BSF initiative and what more can be done,
given this opportunity.
1
Climate change in the West Midlands
2020s
2050s
2080s
Summer mean
1.5ºC
2.3ºC
2.8ºC
temperature
1.5ºC
1.4ºC
2.1ºC
2.9ºC
3.7ºC
4.7ºC
Winter mean
1.2ºC
1.8ºC
2.5ºC
temperature
1.3ºC
2.6ºC
2.9ºC
1.2ºC
2.3ºC
3.4ºC
–6%
–12%
–13%
–7%
–17%
–20%
–4%
–17%
–26%
5%
10%
14%
5%
13%
17%
6%
14%
23%
S precipitation
Winter precipitation
3
The table on the preceding page summarizes the predicted climate changes in the West
Midlands region for three timescales and for three emission scenarios. Here they are
expressed as central estimates of increase. The scenarios do not include planned
mitigation measures, but do include technological and economic change that impacts
emission levels (UKCIP, 2009). However, it should be noted that an average increase of
about 3ºC is widely accepted by the end of the century, and so these projections reflect a
range of scenarios.
To summarize, the following changes are likely in Birmingham (UKCIP, 2009):

Increased winter precipitation (including extreme events)

Reduced summer precipitation

Increased winter temperatures

Increased summer temperatures.
2
Impacts on built environment
The expected change in climate in the West Midlands would influence a range of area,
from biodiversity to tourism, but for the purpose of this report, the focus here will be on
the built environment. UKCP09, overall, has resulted in similar predictions as the
UKCIP02 and so similar impacts are to be expected (DEFRA, 2010). According to West
and Gawith in a report by Acclimatise (2008), the following impacts are likely on the
built environment:

Overwhelmed city drainage system

Increased flood risks on major rivers

Raised groundwater under Birmingham

Increased risk of subsidence

Reduced comfort for building occupants in summer

Intense rainfall and storm damage

Increased mould growth.
These predictions directly refer to the adaptation strategies presented later in this report,
which are organized around corresponding categories: flooding, rain penetration, material
selection, increased summer temperatures, more extreme gale events, increased mould
growth, subsidence, drought and ground condition management.
4
3
Birmingham BSF initiative
The Building Schools for the Future initiative is a national school buildings investment
programme aiming to rebuild or renew every English state secondary school, totalling to
around 3,500. Launched in February 2004, it is organized into six project waves, with the
Birmingham initiative being part of this second wave. An average of £2.5 - £5 billion of
capital investment is spent in the programme each year. In addition to its design,
consultation and ICT provisions, the initiative aims to mitigate climate change though a
sustainability agenda:
The BSF programme is committed to reducing carbon emissions from schools,
with all buildings making the most of sustainable features to help protect the
environment and reduce overheads. In some schools students can monitor the
amount of energy consumed, rainwater is used to flush toilets, and recycled
materials are used for construction (Partnerships for Schools).
However, at the moment there are no specific guidelines regarding climate change
adaptation, only general statements such as ‘sustainability and considering climate
change are important in BSF designs,’ which are then interpreted individually
(Partnerships for Schools, 2010).
The Birmingham BSF programme is the largest in the country. It aims to rebuild or
refurbish all 76 secondary schools and 6 special schools over the next decade. The table
on the following page summarizes the wave organization in more detail. These
developments are to take place over six local waves, with £153 million reserved for the
first 10 schools and 4 academies that are due for completion in 2011. Amongst these,
there are 4 ‘sample schools’ to act as models: Broadway School (Perry Barr), Holte
Secondary School (Lozells), Mayfield School (Handsworth) and Stockland Green
Technology College (Erdington). Catalyst Lend Lease has been appointed as the
preferred bidder, Bovis Lend Lease as its construction partner, Vita Lend Lease as the
facilities manager and Redstone as the ICT partner. Sixteen architectural practices are
also involved (Birmingham City Council). Again, although sustainability is considered to
some extent, there are no precise requirements relating to climate change adaptation. At
present, there are no specific examples within Birmingham that exemplify adaptation
strategies in schools in general, and so the next section will consider two examples within
the West Midlands region.
5
Birmingham BSF: schools reconstruction/renovation according to waves
Wave
1
2
3
4
5
6
Academies
School name
Broadway
Four Dwellings High
George Dixon International
Holte (& Mayfield Co-Location)
International School
Moseley
Park View
Saltley School & Specialist Science College
Stockland Green Technology College
Waverley
Aston Manor
Bartley Green
Baskerville
Bordesley Green Girls
Golden Hillock
Hodge Hill Sports and Enterprise College
Holy Trinity Catholic Media Arts College
Holyhead
Queensbury
Washwood Heath Technology College
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic Technology College
Castle Vale School and Specialist Performing Arts College
Kings Heath Boys' Mathematics and Computing College
Dame Elizabeth Cadbury
Frankley
Handsworth Wood Girls
Hodge Hill Girls
Kingsbury
Lindsworth
Lordswood Boys
Queensbridge
Small Heath
St Edmund Campion RC
St John Wall RC
Archbishop Ilsley RC
Baverstock
Bournville
Calthorpe
Colmers School and Sports College
Great Barr
Hillcrest
Hunters Hill
John Willmott
Selly Park Technology College For Girls
Swanshurst
Turves Green Boys
Al-Hijrah
Bishop Challoner RC
Hall Green
Hallmoor
Hamstead Hall
James Brindley
Kings Norton Boys
Lordswood Girls
Ninestiles
Plantsbrook
St Thomas Aquinas RC
Turves Green Girls
Arthur Terry
Bishop Vesey's Grammar
Bishop Walsh RC
Braidwood
Cockshut Hill
Fairfax
Fox Hollies
Handsworth Grammar
King Edward VI Aston
King Edward VI Camp Hill Boys
King Edward VI Camp Hill Girls
King Edward VI Five Ways
King Edward VI Handsworth
Kings Norton Girls
Perry Beeches (& Kingstanding Co-Location)
Priestley Smith
Selly Oak
St Paul's RC Girls
Sutton Coldfield Grammar
Victoria
Wheelers Lane
Yardleys
College High
Harborne Hill
Heartlands High
Sheldon Heath
Shenley Court Specialist Arts College
St Alban's CE
6
4
Whitecross High School and Specialist Sports College
Client:
Architect:
Contractor:
Services engineer:
Contract value:
Completed:
Herefordshire Council
Haverstock Associates
Stepnell Ltd.
Couch Perry & Wilkes
£15m
June 2006
A specialist sports college, Whitecross High School was developed under a PFI project,
with the requirement that the contractor manage the property for twenty five years. A
benefit of this timescale was that Stepnell had a strong financial incentive to consider
whole life costs and consequently commissioned reports on water use, low energy
buildings and embodied energy in materials in order to inform design (WMCCE, 2008).
An overarching result was that sustainability and, by extension climate change
adaptation, were key priorities.
Architecture
As the students, through workshops, suggested a preference for external circulation and
fresh air between lessons, and as the headteacher stated a strong dislike of ‘street’
schools, the site is composed of three main
buildings (Hunter, 2008). A main block,
consisting of a dining hall, sports facilities,
assembly hall and offices is located on the
south, and there are two T-shaped classroom
blocks, separated by a central courtyard, on the
north. Students go between these areas as
required, with covered walkways and classroom
overhangs providing protection from rain.
There is also a first-floor walkway for staff and
students with disabilities. A library is provided
on the edge of the site (Hunter, 2008).
7
Sustainability
The client’s brief mandated a requirement for a low-energy sustainable school, including
a detailed ‘energy requirement’ section (WMCCE, 2007). The ensuing approach to
sustainability is dependent on both a range of passive strategies and efficient mechanical
systems. These are related to the climate change adaptation strategy and summarized
from an informative review of the school by WMCEE (Yu, 2008) as:

High thermal mass to reduce fluctuation in classroom temperatures.

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, with possibilities for summer nighttime cooling.

Maximized opportunities for natural (borrowed) lighting and efficient daylight
and motion sensors.

High insulation to reduce heating requirements.

Low energy equipment and fittings.

A sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) including a sedum green roof.

A sophisticated BMS system to allow for individual automatic classroom control.

An energy meter to raise awareness.
 Sustainably-sourced cedar cladding and non-vinyl flooring.
Other renewable options, including biomass boilers, wind turbines and photovoltaic cells,
were considered, but due to their payback period at the time, abandoned. However,
recently Stepnell has reversed part of this decision, opting to include a wind turbine to
provide 6.5% of the school’s energy requirements (WMCEE, 2007).
Climate change adaptation
Climate change adaptation was not a requirement for the school, but the long-term
management contract helped to highlight the need for its consideration. This was
manifested in the design’s attention to controlling summertime overheating in the
classrooms (WMCEE, 2008). It was addressed by three elements (Acclimatise, 2008):

High thermal mass to minimize temperature fluctuation and to reduce need for air
conditioning.

Mechanical ventilation to ensure a comfortable temperature and quality fresh air,
as well as allowing for night-time cooling in summer months.

Building orientation and shading to allow for natural daylight while controlling
solar gain.
8
The school’s SUDS also responds to predicted precipitation changes by reducing runoff
while replacing greenfield land required for the building’s site (Acclimatise, 2008).
Deserving mention here specifically is the application of a mechanical ventilation system,
as it usually does not fall into either sustainability or climate change adaptation
categories. The argument was that this decision was the most complimentary to the high
mass strategy, specifically as it relates to the need for night purging of air in increasingly
warmer summer days:
The concept of building a highly insulated, air tight building envelope to meet the
low energy aspirations of the school, and then opening the windows in Winter did
not appear logical. This, combined with the desire for excellent air quality,
delivered the conclusion that forced, controlled ventilation would be the best
solution (WMCEE, 2007).
A more student-oriented reason for its inclusion was set out by Haverstock Associates’
Claire Barton, who argued that the mechanical ventilation was required in the winter
particularly as it guaranteed lower CO2 concentrations, ensuring higher levels of student
alertness (Hunter, 2008). In practice, the mechanical ventilation’s primary aim of
controlling internal temperature conditions appears to be successful. The main reported
drawbacks of this strategy are high early morning classroom temperatures and heat loss
through open external doors (WMCEE, 2007).
Summary
The school’s effective climate change adaptation strategy is closely related to its
sustainability initiatives and the long-term role of the main contractor in its management.
The high level of communication and collaboration between the client, occupants and
main contractor deserve mention here as well, as a series of workshops, site visits and
post-occupancy surveys was organized and established a solid commitment to its climate
change adaptation ambitions. This aspect, as well as its investigational search for
adaptive strategies, makes the Whitecross High School and Specialist Sports College a
key case study for those involved in the BSF Birmingham initiative.
9
5
Red Hill Primary School
Client:
Architect:
Contractor:
Services engineer:
Contract value:
Completed:
Worcestershire County
Council
Worcestershire County
Council Property Services
Frank Galliers Ltd.
Shire Consulting
£3.4m
April 2007
The Red Hill Primary School project replaces a 1965 school building, which had
performed poorly both environmentally and in terms of access. The new building places
remarkable emphasis on sustainability and is amongst the first in the country to employ a
climate change impact assessment from its early design phases. This ensures that the
school’s environmental performance is accounted for during its expected 60-year life
cycle (WMCEE 2008).
Architecture
The single-storey building, residence for 210 pupils and a nursery for 26, is shaped to
follow the curve of an existing avenue of mature trees. In plan, this consideration led to a
‘banana-shape’ building, located on the lowest, central part of the site. This shape is split
by a top-lit central corridor, with paired classrooms along its south side of the corridor
and other accommodation on the north. Each pair shares a group room, practical area and
covered outdoor area. The facilities provided include a school hall, a music and dance
studio and an internal courtyard; all these areas are available for the local community via
a separate entrance (Andrew Beard Architect Ltd., 2009; WMCCE, 2007).
Typical Section
10
Sustainability
The strategy for sustainability in this school is comprehensive, complementing its climate
change adaptation approach. As outlined a case study by WMCCE (2007), it includes:

A ground source heating system for hot water and underfloor heating.

Vent stacks on roof to draw hot air out for classrooms by natural convection and
photovoltaic-powered extract fans for the toilets.

A SUDS, including swales, ponds and underground storage for coping with
flooding. This is particularly important as the building is located on the lowest
part of the site, hence at the highest risk of flooding, due to concerns relating to
sufficient space and access. The floor level was also raised by 150 mm.

A rainwater harvesting scheme for flushing toilets.

Wide overhangs for shade in summer.

An underfloor heating system that can be operated in reverse during summer
days.

Fully-openable additional windows and patio doors for extra ventilation on hot
days.

Added thermal mass through an internal double layer of plasterboard and
additional measures.

A highly recycled choice of materials for construction and interiors.

To add to the last point, the building was used as demonstration project for its
involvement with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). This
involved the commissioning of two reports, which suggested ways to increase the
recycled content of the building by twenty-six percent (WMCCE, 2007).
Climate Change Adaptation
The school is unique in the West Midlands in the extent to which climate change
adaptation influenced its form and environmental strategies. This was largely due to its
piloting and adaptation of the UKCIP Adaptation Wizard 1.0, which assessed the risk
factors related to climate change. The Wizard will be discussed in more detail at a later
stage, but the main changes to it by the design team included its simplification and
project-specificity. Its application led to the following grouping of adaptation strategies,
as defined by its lead architect, Robert Lewin-Jones (Lewin-Jones):
11

Higher rainfall in winter and more intense episodes: SUDS, rainwater harvesting
scheme, sedum roofs, large overhangs on roof and canopies, polythene membrane
seals between window and wall, choice and location of building materials, wide
gutters with emergency overflow points.

Milder winters: no thermal bridges in building fabric, areas vulnerable to mould
well ventilated, choice of heating system.

Hotter, drier summers: overhanging eaves and external canopies, acoustically
lined ductwork for ventilation due to external noise problems, openable windows
and doors, air conditioning via heat pump linked with heating system, raft
foundation design thickness.

Increased wind speeds and extreme storms: aerodynamic building profile, zinc
sheet with standing seems as roof coverings.
He also points out that although the flooding-prone siting of the building and its southfacing classroom orientation, the additional adaptive strategies help mitigate their
negative effects.
Summary
This school is often quoted as an excellent example of integrated adaptive strategies and
its inclusive approach certainly deserves recognition in this respect. The singular
utilization of the UKCIP Adaptation Wizard certainly had much to do with this, as did
Worcestershire City Council’s commitment to this project and initiatives like a Climate
Change Strategy. As it the case with other successful school projects, there is a high level
of pupil and staff engagement throughout the design process and the post-occupancy
period. All in all, Red Hill Primary School demonstrates the positive role a city council
can have in encouraging and facilitating adaptive projects successfully.
12
6
Climate change adaptation checklist
As illustrated in the preceding case study section, a range of adaptation strategies are
available. This section will outline some of the most common ones in the form of a
checklist. These have been compiled mostly from a table, ‘Practical climate risk
management strategies,’ in a report entitled Acclimatise (2008: 28-9) and corroborated
with other relevant sources. They are not meant to represent the entirety of strategies
available, as innovation in this field is recommended and inevitable, but nevertheless
outline some of the existing strategies.
General:
Climate change building modelling.
Site evaluation (flood risk, etc.).
Engagement with building users.
Opportunities for building adaptations/extensions highlighted.
Post-occupancy evaluations.
Flooding:
Sustainable urban drainage scheme (SUDS, swales, ponds, storage).
Rainwater harvesting scheme.
Wider gutter design (emergency overflow points).
Roof design to reduce runoff (sedum, etc.).
Floor level of building raised in high-risk sites.
Flood attenuation for temporary water storage (retarding basins, etc.).
Permanent floor defenses and hard barriers.
Strategies for diversion of flood floors away from affected areas.
‘Set back’ flood defenses for areas needing repeated repairs.
One way valves to prevent backflow.
Flood resistant materials (concrete, ceramic tile, etc.).
Removable household products for temporary fitting.
Xeriscaping (low water use planting).
Storm overflow management to prevent surface water contamination.
Rain penetration:
Overhang and roof canopy design.
Selection of barriers for windows and doors.
Material selection:
Material selection on basis of long-term projections.
Increased summer
temperatures:
Overhang/shading design.
Natural ventilation strategies (ductwork, windows, doors).
Thermal mass strategies.
Barriers between external and internal building conditions.
Technological responses (heat pumps, heat recovery systems, etc.).
13
Roof materials to absorb solar radiation, for later dissipation.
Cool building materials on roofs to prevent storage of solar heat gain.
Increased use of green infrastructure (open spaces, tress, etc.).
Vegetation as a shading strategy.
Building orientation to reduce solar gain.
Building configuration to reduce solar gain.
Advanced glazing systems to reduce solar gain.
Evaporative cooling strategies to reduce temperature (fountains,trees)
Mechanical ventilation (slab cooling, chilled beams, air conditioning)
Cool pavement materials to increase surface reflectivity.
Cool pavement materials to increase surface permeability.
Cool building materials on facades to prevent storage of solar gain.
Ground water cooling (aquifers).
Surface water cooling.
Absorption cooling (using thermal input rather than electricity).
Extreme gale events:
Building profile (aerodynamic, etc.).
Roof cover materials less vulnerable to high winds.
Increased mould
growth:
Continuity of insulation.
Ventilation of vulnerable areas (especially wet areas).
Subsidence:
Foundation design.
Drought:
Open water systems for water storage.
Water storages systems within building.
Water efficient fixtures and fittings.
Grey water recycling.
Ground condition
management:
Planting to deter erosion.
Vegetation management.
Re-grading of slopes and reinforced slopes.
Surface erosion control structures (retaining walls, fences, etc.).
Retaining structure design.
Deeper, stronger foundations.
Underpinning to support foundations.
Infill of foundations.
Drainage moisture control system or soil rehydration system control.
14
7
Frameworks and guidance
Having examined case studies and suggested individual strategies, this section will now
reflect a number of design tools and guidance available that display considerations of
climate change. These are available to provide further information as much as to suggest
new ways of designing. Once again, this section is not meant to evaluate all existing tools
and guidelines, but to offer an introductory overview to be referenced further.
UKCIP Adaptation Wizard
The UKCIP Adaptation Wizard claims it ‘will help you to assess your vulnerability to
current climate and future climate change, identify options to address your key climate
risks, and help you to develop a climate change adaptation strategy’ (UKCIP 2010). It is
essentially a five-step process consisting of questions, linked with ‘guiding principles’
and resources to inform the design process, rather than determine it. It is therefore not a
design tool per-se, but a process to incorporate adaptive design thinking into a project’s
earliest stages. An overview of steps in the current version (2.0) is presented in a table
format on the following page.
Of note here is that the Red Hill case study relied on an earlier version of the Wizard, 1.0,
changing the number of steps to four and adapting the questions to be more projectspecific. However, it has helped inform the newer, 2008 version of the Wizard through
feedback by the architect ‘indicating which areas had been effective, which areas less so,
and where improvements could be made.’ Suggestions were made to provide further
guidance on practical tasks and better access to resources for specific tasks (Fazlic,
2010). This manner of addressing feedback from users and case studies demonstrates the
Wizard’s assurance to accuracy and relevance, and hence it remains one of the most
effective tools available for raising awareness of areas that need consideration. At the
moment, no other schools have applied the Wizard, although Nottingham Trent
University is currently involved in its use (Fazlic, 2010).
15
STEP 1: Getting
started
STEP 2: Am I
vulnerable to the
current climate?
STEP 3: How will I
be affected by
climate change?
STEP 4:What should
I do?
STEP 4a: Identify,
assess and
implement your
adaptation options.
(4b) Find out more:
Quantify risks
STEP 5: Keeping it
relevant
Task 1.5: What do I want to achieve by using the Wizard?
a) What is the problem I need to address?
b) What do I want to achieve?
c) What are the criteria against which I will judge a successful outcome?
d) Who needs to be involved?
What is the lifetime of my decision likely to be?
Task 1.10: What difficulties might I face and how could they be overcome?
a) Identify potential barriers
b) How they might be overcome?
How are changes made in your organisation?
Task 2.1: Why should I worry about the climate? Set the context for your work on
the Wizard. Describe how weather and climate affects you, and what is it about
your particular organisation that makes climate change a concern to you.
Task 2.2: How have previous weather events affected my organisation?
Demonstrate how your organisation has been affected by recent weather events by
completing Table 2.2.
Task 2.3: What is my attitude to risk? State your risk attitude.
Task 2.4: What are the critical thresholds for my situation? Include in Table 2.2.
Task 2.5: How confident am I in this assessment? Include in Table 2.2
Task 3.1: How is the UK’s climate expected to change?
Note the headeline messages Refer to the UKCIP02 climate change scenarios.
Task 3.2: What are the key climate impacts on my area of responsibility?
Identify specific impacts, or climate risks, to your organisation by completing Table
3.2
Task 3.3: Are there indirect climate impacts that I need to consider?
Complete in Table 3.2
Task 3.4: What risks do these climate impacts present to me?
Complete in Table 3.2
Task 3.5: Will climate risks be more or less important than other non-climate risks
that I face?
List, or rank, the non-climate risks affecting your activity
Task 3.6: What are my priority risks that require an adaptation response?
Task 3.7: How confident am I in this assessment?
Task 4.1: What is my attitude to risk?
State your risk attitude. Is this consistent with the answer to Q 1.3?
Task 4.2: When do I need to take action?
Determine and record when you need to take action and why.
Task 4.3: What are my options?
Familiarise yourself with Adaptation Options
Task 4a (i): What adaptation measures are most appropriate to manage my priority
climate risks? Identify the range of options open to you.
Task 4a (ii): What level of adaptation is required?
Task 4a (iii): What will happen if I over- or under-adapt?
Task 4a (iv): How can I minimise the cost of adapting?
How can adaptation be synergised with other developments / plans.
Task 4a (v): How confident am I in this assessment?
Task 4a (vi): Consolidate all you have done into a climate adaptation strategy
Task 4a (vii): Develop an implementation plan
Task 4b (i): How significant are the climate risks that I have identified in Step 3?
Task 4b (ii): How much could climate impacts cost?
Task 4b (iii): How confident am I in this assessment?
Task 5.1: Do I have an effective adaptation strategy?
Task 5.2: How often should I review my strategy?
16
Soft Landings Framework
A joint initiative between BSRIA, the Usable Buildings Trust and Mark Way, the creator
of Soft Landings, was released in July 2009. It is mainly a post-occupancy tool, its
purpose being ‘to provide the structure for project teams to stay engaged after practical
completion, hand-holding the client during the first months of operation to fine-tune and
de-bug systems and ensure the occupiers understand how to control and best use their
new work environment’ (Bunn in Usable Buildings Trust et al, 2009). It is meant to
provide guidance in the form of procedures and checklists, with the entire process
consisting broadly of five steps, here extracted directly from the main document (Usable
Buildings Trust et al, 2009):
1. Inception and briefing to clarify the duties of members of the client, design and
building teams during critical stages, and help set and manage expectations for
performance in use.
2. Design development and review (including specification and construction). This
proceeds much as usual, but with greater attention to applying the procedures
established in the briefing stage, reviewing the likely performance against the
original expectations and achieving specific outcomes.
3. Pre-handover, with greater involvement of designers, builders, operators and
commissioning and controls specialists, in order to strengthen the operational
readiness of the building.
4. Initial aftercare during the users' settling-in period, with a resident representative
or team on site to help pass on knowledge, respond to queries, and react to
problems.
5. Aftercare in years 1 to 3 after handover, with periodic monitoring and review of
building performance.
It should be noted that the Soft Landings process not a climate change adaptation
programme, and instead focuses on energy performance and, by extension, sustainability.
Indeed, the fact that its timescale ranges only up to three years post-completion leaves
little room for feedback on adaptive strategies, but there are some key strategies in it that
warrant its use in this report. First, by highlighting the need for post-occupancy
evaluation, necessary adjustments and engaging the client throughout all stages of the
design process, it makes an innovative addition to the building industry; such areas of
concern are often only reflected in exceptional buildings, such as the case studies
discussed previously. Second, it works by complementing standard industry procedures,
both general, like RIBA’s Plan of Work 2008, and environmental, like the BREEAM
rating system; this aspect has made the industry more receptive to its suggestions. Third,
it is currently being applied as a test and demonstration on School projects, with
17
suggestions that Birmingham may soon be included. All in all, for the purpose of this
report, it forms a model for a future climate change adaptation framework, in terms of
post-occupancy evaluation, client interaction, ease of application and potential. The
objectives and timescale would certainly need adjustment, but as no such document exists
for adaptation strategies in the West Midlands, this makes it one worthy of more
consideration.
CABE Guidance
There has been much debate over the quality of the schools developed under the BSF
programme, most of it critical. The Commission for Architecture and the Built
Environment was amongst those unimpressed. It had first warned of the low quality of 52
of the 124 secondary schools completed in the five years up to 2006, assessing half of the
schools as ‘poor’ or ‘mediocre.’ ‘With very few exceptions,’ it claimed, ‘schools
performed badly on basic issues of environmental sustainability’ (CABE, 2007: 13).
Again, in 2008, an inquiry into the schemes reviewed by its design review panel found
that not much had changed, with the 80 percent of schools not reaching acceptable
categories (Building Design, 2008).
To improve design quality, in 2009 the government introduced a ‘minimum design
standard’ for the BSF programme, set by CABE and administered by its schools design
panel. Reviewed three times during the procurement process and based on a four point
scale, only the ‘very good’ or ‘pass’ schemes will be allowed to be constructed (CABE).
There are 10 assessment criteria, including one addressed at sustainability, entitled
‘Resources: deploying convincing environmental strategies.’ This includes the themes of
orientation, ventilation, daylighting and energy and services strategies. However, from
the general documentation available through CABE, there seems little emphasis on
climate change adaptation, with only a reference question in the category of ventilation:
‘Is the environmental strategy resilient to increased heat gain or the effects of climate
change?’ The fact that it has been considered at all is a good start, and the design enablers
linked with each school and the review process may furthermore provide an opportunity
for a more thorough assessment.
There are some limitations with CABE’s approach that need to be considered. As pointed
out in BSRIA’s review (2009), there is concern that there is too much of a focus on
design, not in ‘fine-tuning in pre-handover, handover and operation.’ This applies to
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general quality of schools, but a more relevant concern rests with climate change
adaptation. Mairi Johnson, Director of Enabling at CABE, stated in 2007 that (Johnson,
2007):
Children want classrooms with daylight and fresh air, civilised dining and
communal areas, and outdoor spaces - with some protection from the rain - where
they can learn, play sport and be with their friends. Durable finishes that age well,
not scruffily, will discourage graffiti and vandalism. And - now a priority - a
school must be able to adapt to and mitigate climate change.
Whether or not this ‘priority’ has actually been addressed remains a question.
Holte (& Mayfield CoLocation)
OVERALL DESIGN
QUALITY RATING:
NOT YET GOOD ENOUGH
Stockland Green Technology
College
OVERALL DESIGN
QUALITY RATING:
NOT YET GOOD ENOUGH
Broadway
OVERALL DESIGN
QUALITY RATING:
NOT YET GOOD ENOUGH
Birmingham BSF Schools. Source: CABE website.
Before considering recommendations in the next section, it is also worth point out that, to
date, three BSF design review summaries from Birmingham are available from CABE.
These are replicated above, but what is clear is that more consideration needs to be taken
regarding the environmental strategies utilized, as all of the schools only achieved a
‘mediocre’ rating.
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8
Recommendations for wave 2
In order to more fully address the impacts of climate change, this section will outline
suggested changes to its adaptation approaches. These recommendations are based on an
evaluation of the preceding case studies, design tools and guidance and, where possible,
offer proposals for integrating new strategies within existing processes. For clarification
on implementation, these recommendations are organized into three areas pre-design,
design/construction and post-occupancy.
Pre-design
The recommendations for this stage are to involve the range of professions in the built
environment, including architects and contractors. However, the main responsibility here
lies with a consortium of interested parties such as WMCCEE, Birmingham City Council,
the Building Schools for the Future programme as overseen by Partnerships for Schools
(PfS) and the Local Education Partnership (LEP). These recommendations could for a
response to the West Midlands Regional Climate Change Action Plan, currently under
review.
1. There needs to be a clarification and expansion of the expectations of BSF project
performance. These can take the form of a checklist outlining minimum standards
or design strategies or a document that specifies stages where more
comprehensive evaluations will take place. No clear guidelines exist for climate
change adaptation, making the use such strategies optional.
2. Currently under development is an Education Design Toolkit which considers the
broader issues of sustainability. If this is to become a standard method of
approaching and evaluating design, it is highly recommended that adaptive
strategies are incorporated into its structure.
3. The interested parties are to clearly outline, and later evaluate, the roles of
preferred bidders, facility managers, etc. in terms of climate change adaptation.
Currently there are no such procedures and so adaptive concerns are sidelined. It
would also be highly beneficial that an independent agency further reviews the
guidelines and performance to ensure that there is improvement in subsequent
waves.
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Design/Construction
Communication and cooperation between the various teams is key here, as the
implementation of particular adaptive designs is depended on their correct construction
and use. As is the case with sustainable approaches in general, it is during this stage that
adaptive strategies are removed from the initial designs, often due to financial constraints.
It is therefore also the duty of the interested parties to ensure certain proportions of funds
are allocated for adaptive strategies and that such strategies are not abandoned in the
design process. Specific recommendations follow.
1. Design review panels, such as CABE nationally and MADE locally, could play a
significant role in ensuring that adaptive strategies are integrated into the design
process. As is seen in the sections above, they are often more critical than those
actually involved in the design process, so a minimum standard at the level of
‘good’ could be set for environmental strategies. However, the panel must be fully
aware of the Council’s standards for adaptive design, as climate change
adaptation is currently not a mandatory requirement. Recently, MADE has
appointed an Arts and Culture Adviser specifically for BSF projects in the region;
this role could extend into including adaptive strategies, as outlined in the point
below.
2. There is an opportunity to utilize the broader community and ‘Social Resources’
to ensure that the future building occupants are aware of adaptive strategies and
apply them correctly once the building is occupied. They are also more likely to
push for a broader sustainability agenda than is currently required in the
construction industry. Other than individuals, like Head Teachers and student
representatives often having some say at the start of each renovation/construction
project, these can also include established programmes involving a greater
number of participants and possibly wider community engagement. There are a
number of initiatives and organisations all working on sustainability/climate
change, many in isolation. There is an opportunity to bring together some of these
initiatives to both raise the impact and profile of climate change adaptation as
well to be more efficient and effective. Joint working between the following could
be explored further: The Sorrell Foundation, the Eco-Schools initiative, the 10:10
campaign and theWest Midlands Climate Change Pledge for Schools.
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Post-occupancy
Again, as is the case with sustainability in general, the post-occupancy phase is generally
left unmonitored, despite its importance in evaluating the performance of strategies. The
fact that many of the adaptive strategies are emerging and underutilized already only
makes the post-occupancy monitoring even more significant. Although there are many
ways of ensuring proper evaluation, two ways that may be particularly applicable to BSF
projects are included here.
1. As the cost of post-occupancy evaluation is often cited as the primary limitation,
the involvement of students, teachers and staff in monitoring the performance of
adaptive strategies may help to reduce those concerns. This can be specified at the
outset of the design process, so that sufficient training is involved, and could be a
specification from an initiative from those discussed above. The City Council and
its designated design and construction teams could therefore improve upon
existing designs and inform future ones, without necessarily having to allocate
further resources.
2. The Soft Landings approach could be extended for a longer period, minimally a
decade but preferably much longer, to guarantee that schools coming in
subsequent waves improve upon the designs of earlier projects. Key here is the
monitoring of performance during extreme periods that may correlate to future
changes in climate. This process would also allow for both major and minor
adjustments to existing schools to be applied on time, particularly as the effects of
climate change are highly dependent on current rates of emission and also as
immediate action is more efficient in terms of resources and finances.
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Conclusions
Although not fully addressed yet, the sustainability agenda is nevertheless becoming
more prevalent in the Birmingham BSF initiative. However, climate change adaptation is
still far behind, with only a cursory mention of adaptive strategies even among some of
the most environmentally progressive projects in the city. The main aim at this stage
could therefore be to integrate climate change adaptation within the overall sustainability
agenda. Only by providing effective guidelines, long-term monitoring and full evaluation
can adaptive approaches within BSF projects can long-term sustainability be achieved.
Yet the uncertainties pertaining to climate change make it a more complex issue than the
manner in which sustainability is approached. Therefore the application of adaptive
strategies, unlike the general sustainability approach, is necessarily linked to a shifting
timeline, where changes and repairs are to be expected. Based on this initial research, two
key areas emerged that warrant further development: a coordinated approach to
producing guidance to all those involved in various stages of the development process
and the proactive and effective us of the ‘Social Resources’ currently available. Having
clear guidelines, such as those suggested in this report, at the outset of future waves of
BSF projects will facilitate this process, allowing for a longer building lifecyle and more
comfortable learning conditions.
Finally, this report only represents an initial series of recommendations which are to be
developed further. The West Midlands Schools - climate change adaptation project being
carried out by WMCCEE, reporting its findings mid-2010, will enforce and advance such
proposals and is thus to be more fully consulted.
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All images are sourced via the resources above, with most originating from architectural
offices specified in the text.
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