Technology Strategy Board Looks İnto Ways İn Which Buildings İn The UK Can Withstand The Climate Of The Future

Larkfleet Group has been selected to work alongside LDA Design, Buro Happold, Wormald Burrows and Capita Symonds on behalf of the Technology Strategy Board to develop ways in which buildings in the UK can be adapted so that they are better able to withstand the climate of the future.

Work will focus on the impact of external factors such as shrinkable clay soils on a building’s structural strength. The research will also investigate the resilience of buildings to high temperatures and flood risk.

Larkfleet Group will work as the developer-contractor on the LDA Design led project to test the research project’s suggested climate change adaptations for housing on three properties on Phase 1 of Larkfleet’s Oakham North development in Rutland. The Oakham North development will include around 1,100 homes (including affordable housing), a continuing care retirement community (CCRC), local centre, meeting places, public open space and structural landscaping.

The climate change adaptations for new housing identified through the research will be developed so that the solutions appeal not just to the Oakham development but also to other developers and the wider housing market. The research project hopes to confirm that successful climate change solutions must incorporate realistic design and ‘green thinking’ if they are to be deliverable.

Larkfleet Group managing director Karl Hick commented: “Larkfleet Group is delighted to be able to help with this research study. By testing strategies on properties at Oakham North, feedback can be gained on the way adaptation strategies can be prepared and implemented. Larkfleet Group has an excellent reputation for building high quality, energy–efficient homes but the next challenge is to make sure buildings are able to cope with the changing environmental conditions that will occur over the coming decades.”