Real estate investors are fearful of insurance premiums being driven up as a result of climate change, but the cost of failing to insure is astronomical. “In the long run, the consequence of climate risks such as sea-level rises and extreme heat will increasingly highlight the vulnerability of individual assets, locations and entire metropolitan areas,” it reads.
#THAMES BARRIER HOW TO#
The industry is panicking about how to tackle it.”Ī recent report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) summarises the scale and complexity of this right-now problem for the insurance industry.
The insurance broker told The Developer: “Climate change is the topic of the moment in the corridors of Lloyd’s of London. “A failure of the Thames Barrier is inevitable and, on current projections, will happen soon” Most central London developments rely on the future implementation of Thames Estuary 2100 (TE2100), the Environment Agency’s £300m tidal defence and flood risk programme of construction across the Thames Estuary.Īccording to an insider, climate change is no longer the elephant in the room at Lloyd’s of London, the global insurance sector headquarters. Given the effects of global warming since then, it is not hard to imagine London’s last line of defence being overwhelmed in a worst-case scenario.Īrchitect Rory Bergin of HTA Design agrees: “Half of the South depends on the Thames Barrier – a breach really is the elephant in the room.” If it had coincided with the highest possible tide of the year, the waves would have increased to 6.86 metres – just 14cm shy of the height of the Thames Barrier. In the 1940s, a tidal surge of 3.66 metres was recorded in the Thames but hit at low tide, leaving the city unscathed. “A failure of the Thames Barrier is inevitable and, on current projections, will happen soon,” says Din. The iconic blockade, which shut only 10 times in its first decade, shut 74 times in the past decade to March this year. Surely the Thames Barrier, which opened in 1982 and sits just east of the Isle of Dogs, will protect the Greater London floodplain against storm surges? Learn how to design and develop UK cities for the climate emergency at Risk & Resilience - a one-day conference on 8 November at the Science Museum, London. “The short-term impacts are getting worse just as long-term change is taking hold – it is a double whammy,” says Ian Allison, global head of climate resilience at engineering group Mott MacDonald. There are 57 London Tube stations at high risk of flooding, representing a third of all stations, says Caroline Russell, author of the Climate Change Risks for London report, Green Party councillor and chair of the London Assembly Environment Committee.
The combination of rising water levels and increasing frequency of catastrophic weather events means climate change can no longer be dismissed as a futuristic threat to communities, buildings and infrastructure.Īfter heavy rains last month, four London Underground stations were flooded, and City Hall flooded twice in September. London will flood and when it happens, it will be dramatic,” says Asif Din, sustainability director of global architectural firm Perkins+Will. “The 500-year storm has become a one-in-20-year occurrence or even less. No amount of armed security guards or crash bollards can prevent this environmental attack on the heart of Britain’s political establishment. Waterloo’s Lower Marsh floods and waves penetrate Westminster. This precise swell of factors creates the perfect storm. The rain is lashing down on the capital, the wind is raging, the tide high, the pressure low and the Thames Barrier shuts.
It funnels into the Thames Estuary and gathers pace towards London. Picture this: a fierce northerly wind whips up a storm surge in the narrow North Sea, battering the east coast of England.
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