Mitigating Climate Risk in Construction Projects | Practical Law The Journal | Reuters

A discussion of climate risk mitigation strategies for owners of private commercial construction projects, including climate-focused project planning and site assessment, contractual risk allocation with design professionals and contractors, and insurance coverage.

Extreme weather events affecting construction projects continue to increase in number and severity. Climate-related conditions, including intense heat and shoreline erosion, have also increased. These circumstances have raised questions about the resilience of projects to climate risks and exposures both during and after construction.

Standard design development and construction approaches do not fully address climate concerns because industry practices typically prioritize scheduling pressures, short-term budgets, and baseline requirements for legal compliance over long-term project performance. These approaches can result in significant climate-related gaps in a project's development. Additionally, building codes do not effectively address climate concerns because they tend to be backward-looking, drawing on past experience to establish minimum design standards and construction requirements, and do not evolve quickly. Although climate projections focus on future events, relying on trends, forecasts, and predictive modeling, they do not necessarily establish adequate design and construction strategies that address climate concerns.

These gaps are further complicated by the competing interests of the project parties. For example:

This article focuses on how owners can identify and allocate climate risks in private commercial construction projects. It outlines industry reactions to climate and weather-related events and how they affect the planning, design, and construction of private commercial buildings, and addresses project planning, contract terms, and insurance coverage.