CREW

Dr Steve Hallett

Cranfield University

February 2008 to November 2011

Aim: To develop a set of tools for improving the capacity for resilience of local communities to the impacts of extreme weather events.

Objectives:

• Develop a tool to map probabilistic future EWEs, i.e. flooding, heatwaves, subsidence, wind and lightning;

• Integrate social and physical research to develop an improved understanding of risk from EWEs at the community level;

• Identify the risks, vulnerabilities, barriers and drivers that affect the resilience of a local community to EWEs;

• Assess the adaptive capacity of a local community to respond to the challenges of EWEs;

• Develop and test new strategic and operational models to support effective planning to cope with both current and future EWEs;

• Provide new insights into the inter-relationships between stakeholders in the local community (decision makers, householders, businesses) for those with national responsibilities for coping with EWEs;

• Inform communities of the risks and options for coping with EWEs;

• Create and evaluate the benefits of an interactive, stakeholder-driven research programme.

Tools

The CREW project developed a set of tools for improving the resilience of local communities in SE London to the impacts of extreme weather events.

• Building Retrofit Toolkit. To assist when choosing retrofit adaptations to reduce dwelling overheating during heat wave periods, whilst also considering the effect on annual heating energy use and cost.

• Integrated extreme weather event decision support tool. To allow decision-makers to draw up maps of each hazard scenario, assign weightings as required and interrogate and view the result in a web-mapping interface.

Other web-based tools were developed but cannot be made available publicly due to IPR restriction. Please contact Steve Hallett for more information:

For householders:

Householders were key stakeholders for CREW research with timeframes of concern limited to relatively few years.

• Integrated Risk: Householder prototype – Show my property and the results of modelling for that area.
• Property value: House Price Impacts query tool – Allow a householder to inspect the possible impacts of extreme flood events on their house price.

For Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs):

Many SMEs do not have specialised capacity within their workforce for developing strategies for adaptation and resilience to the changing climate. CREW tools for SMEs are designed to show how results can be applied at an appropriate geographical scale.

• Flooding: A decision-makers mapping tool – allows a community decision maker the tools to inspect rapidly a neighbourhood or community.
• Water Resource Shortages for London – allows identification of the critical demand saving thresholds in London under a range of climate change scenarios and changes in water demand.
• Property value: House price impacts mapping tool – allows a community decision maker the tools to inspect the possible impacts of extreme flood events on house prices.
• Heatwave: Impact modelling for London – allows identification of the critical temperature thresholds for heatwaves in the London study area under a range of future scenarios