Building Health and Climate Change

27 March 2021

Buildings are vulnerable to climate change too, it might sound unusual, but it is important to ensure that building fabric is shielded from the impacts of climate change.

Flooding, subsidence, and air pollution can all be caused or exacerbated by a change to our weather from one year to the next and all impact on the building health, the lifecycle of the building and therefore the building owner’s investment.

Changes in external temperature – extreme heat or cold – can impact the building fabric and cause erosion to the building lifespan. Damaging external facades and windows, creating cracks and deterioration. These external temperatures also impact the internal environment as occupiers seek to heat or cool the internal spaces to compensate for cooler or hotter external air. Meaning the building consumes more energy and delivers extra carbon emissions impacting the external environment and making the building less desirable to the investor. The extra heating and cooling can also deteriorate internal facades and assets.

At CODA, we are working with a number of building owners and operators with a dedicated focus on their building’s health and wellbeing with the aim of prolonging and protecting the building fabric and therefore the life of the building.

We do this with our smart building technology, CODA which ensures building health is managed alongside occupant health and wellbeing; that the internal conditions are managed for both the benefits of the occupier and the building itself - to reduce the impact on the building.

CODA provides insights for building health maintenance on a preventative, proactive and reactive basis. It can monitor, manage and alert on the climate change impacts such as flooding or subsidence and allow the building owner to take action to reduce the impacts of the impending floodwaters or make a change to the building itself for the safety of the occupants from the effects to structural health from subsidence.

IoT on connected systems such as energy, water, heat and ventilation ensure the internal environment is managed and never to the detriment of the building fabric. Connected systems such as drainage and water can also impact building fabric health – IoT spots issues before they cause backups or leaks and therefore identify before damage is caused.

One very clever use of IoT is with sensors that monitor the structural health of the building – these save lives, save money and save the property itself. For example, Piezoelectric sensors can determine the structural health of a building. They measure pressure, acceleration, temperature, strain or force through an electric charge. The insights they provide can help detect size, location and damage in building structures.

Safeguarding buildings from the damaging effects of climate change is a top priority for many businesses, however, it is still a new concept to some – at CODA, we are supporting buildings of all ages, shapes and sizes to ensure they are protected from the effects of climate change and the environment.

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For more information or to find out how the team at CODA can help you, please call us on +44 345 241 2889 or email info@codacloud.io.