Is your building ready to withstand the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather-related events?
The rising incidents of wildfires, earthquakes, droughts, floods and other natural disasters have become an unfortunate reality.
The U.S. set an all-time record in 2023 with 28 climate and weather disasters, each surpassing $1 billion in damages, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. Damages from the 2023 disasters totaled $92.9 billion.
These undisputable facts are propelling commercial building owners and property managers to step up their disaster planning efforts. Strategies include increasingly focusing on asset resilience to maintain building value, assessing the huge financial costs of climate disasters, developing ESG strategies to address concerns, and implementing strong disaster recovery plans to reduce costly downtime and ensure their buildings’ tenants are safe.
Decreasing a building’s physical risks related to climate change and natural disasters can increase property value while lowering operating costs and insurance premiums.
“Let’s address the elephant in the room, which is insurance,” says an industry source.
Commercial property insurance premiums skyrocketed over the last several years as natural disasters have not just inflicted billions of dollars in damage but huge losses for insurance companies.
The source notes that premiums are expected to somewhat stabilize this year, but variations in rates are affected by factors including inflation, catastrophic events, and specific regional issues.
Timely issue
“Natural disaster planning is s such a timely topic as a lot of companies are thinking about how do we address these weather-related incidents that are happening more frequently, and climate adaptation is front of mind,” says Zachary Flora, executive vice president of Market Growth at Active Design Advisors Inc., the operator of the Fitwel Certification and healthy building platform.
“The climate advocation conversation has been evolving over the last few years, from how do we prevent climate change to the reality that the climate has changed, and now we're adapting to some new realities,” Flora says. “Whether it’s heat and drought conditions in the West, heavier rainfall in the Northeast or even wildfires in Canada.”
While natural disasters are often not preventable, there are steps to protect buildings and tenants. Fitwel provides numerous strategies to manage weather-related occurrences.
For example, flooding. Flora recalls a day in September 2023 when record rain hit New York City causing streets and subways to flood. Parts of the city were pummeled with more than six inches of rain.
“We're seeing flood events becoming more common, and it's not just hurricanes and tropical storms,” notes Flora. “These are everyday rainstorms that are sweeping through our cities.” Warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which results in storms dumping more precipitation.
California, long-known for drought and wildfires, is experiencing flash floods as atmospheric rivers take shape across the Pacific Ocean. Scientists project that atmospheric rivers will become more forceful as temperatures rise due to global warming.
How to protect buildings from flood damage?
One effective approach is elevating mechanical systems and boilers from lower levels and bringing them up higher. Many systems in the past were built in-ground or in the basement.
“If you owned a property right along the water or in a beach town, maybe you've always elevated these systems,” says Flora. However, office buildings in Lower Manhattan and other cities now more prone to flooding may need to consider this strategy.
Stormwater management is also key. That could be creating stormwater basins or capture areas, or creating bioswales in cities like New York City and Chicago to capture stormwater.
“We have to deal with the reality that we're going to get more rain on these sites,” Flora adds.
Wildfires
Last year, smoke from the extreme Canadian wildfires hit the U.S. hard, triggering dangerous air quality. A large portion of the U.S. -- including parts of the Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Central Appalachia, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast -- were under orange, red and "very unhealthy" purple air quality alerts, reported NPR
“I don't know if every building owner or property manager knew exactly how to address that,” says Flora. “How do you communicate that with your tenants? What's the risk? I'm not even sure municipalities had all the tools they needed to get that right.”
Building owners and property managers can create a smoke readiness plan. According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, a plan should include: creating temporary clean air spaces that can be closed off from the rest of the office, purchasing smoke preparation supplies like portable air cleaners with extra filters, upgrading HVAC system recirculation filters, and optimizing airflow with fans instead of opening windows.
Reducing wildfire spread
Developers and building owners must think about the materials used when building structures in areas more prone to wildfires such as Class A metal roofing and fire-proof siding.
Also, experts recommend creating a buffer zone around your building to protect people and property from fire damage. Strategies include removing combustible material and keeping vegetation to a minimum within a 30-foot zone around the building. That includes replacing flammable mulch with crushed stone or gravel. Also, clear branches and shrubs, mow grass regularly, and clear fallen leaves.
Heat waves
“Heat is the under talked about weather-related incident, but it’s often one of the most dangerous and deadly weather conditions we can experience,” notes Flora. “We often hear about incredible temperatures in places like Arizona, but we’re also hearing about the challenges that higher temperatures can have in places like Chicago and across the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest and New York City.”
Go green to cool off
Urbanized areas with brick, asphalt, cement, dark roofs, and steel become “heat islands” with scorching temperatures. Building owners and property managers can use green roofs and green walls to naturally cool and help protect assets from extreme heat, explains Flora. They can also use natural vegetation and plant trees to cover sidewalks and outdoor spaces. To cool down urban heat islands, some cities are “lightening” streets with a more reflective gray coating.
Make an emergency preparedness plan
While these are all effective strategies, Flora says, having an actual emergency preparedness plan is essential. “Have you identified the scenarios that your assets could face?” he asks.
It’s important to continually plan for natural disasters and have a written evacuation plan that includes asset preservation, tenant safety and asset recovery.
“Have you thought about interventions in terms of what are you going to do with the mechanical systems or is there an operational procedure or personnel protocol you need to follow in the event of wildfire risk, an incredible rain incident, or air-quality issues?” Flora asks. “What supplies or training do you need?”
And what's your communication plan? “If you're not effectively communicating with tenants, it's not going to build trust,” Flora says. “They need to know how you’re protecting their space and keeping everybody safe.”
Flora says have those plans written, actionable, and spread across the organization. “This is so powerful to ensure that building owners, property managers and facilities managers have the tools and resources they need to be successful in the face of rapidly changing weather events and risks,” he notes.
More tips
The industry source advises, “Understand your building. Understand the neighborhood. Understand how your building would perform during a natural disaster but also manmade events.”
The source encourages tabletop exercises where building owners and property managers sit down and ask the hard questions in the event that a natural disaster occurs. Keep up with current events and social media, and ask yourself, “How would we respond to that disaster?” says the source. Hold regular meetings with your building team to discuss strategies. Meet with the other commercial buildings’ staff members in your area to create a network of resources.
“This is all free,” the source says. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also offers free resources.
Additionally, BOMA provides the Emergency Preparedness Guidebook - The Property Professional's Resource for Developing Emergency Plans for Natural and Human-Based Threats, the industry's most up-to-date guide to help property professionals prepare for and respond to a range of potential threats.
How prepared are you?
“I engage with companies across the U.S., and what I typically find is property managers have a very myopic view as to how their team will respond to an emergency,” the source notes. “They don't include everybody. They only include the property manager and maybe the chief engineer, and it doesn't go far enough.”
Building owners and property managers need to think through all vendor relationships and everything that needs to occur to ensure that they're minimizing downtime before bringing the building back online.
Schedule meetings with vendors and local emergency responders to ensure your response plans work, the source notes. Once you develop a solid plan, bring your tenants into the discussion. It’s crucial for them to be active partners with the property management team and first responders to ensure their own safety, the source adds.