Essential Facility Response to Climate Change
By: Patrick Stone, AIA, LEED AP | Director of the Public Safety Market at H2M architects + engineers
This article is adapted from a presentation that Patrick Stone gave at the F.I.E.R.O. Station Design Symposium.
Record-breaking heat, more frequent droughts, deluges of rain, and stronger hurricanes than ever before; Wildfires floods, and power outages. Each of these hazards are linked to each other and to climate change. The issue of climate change isn’t going away, so how are essential and mission critical facilities going to handle the challenges created by these phenomena?
An essential facility is any man-made structure that has the potential to disrupt vital socioeconomic activities if it is destroyed or impaired. The International Building Code, produced by the International Code Council, is the basis for most building codes across the country and designates emergency vehicle garages and fire, rescue, ambulance, and police stations as essential facilities. These buildings don’t have the option of closing and their occupants cannot work from home during a bad storm or major event. They must be able to handle any disaster that is thrown at them.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Disaster Assistance Handbook defines a disaster as any hazard event of such great intensity that it overwhelms the local capacity to respond. An impact modifier is a natural or man-made feature that further alters the severity of the hazard. Climate change is an impact modifier that increases the height and speed of storm surge, worsens the impact of breaking waves, changes precipitation patterns, exacerbates temperature extremes, and increases the frequency of droughts.
What can Climate Change do to a Building?
Aside from the immediate impacts of being in the path of wildfire or a hurricane, changes to the climate have impacted the local weather. More precipitation will mean that critical equipment and doors may now sit below the base flood elevation. Windows may not be prepared to handle the impact of high winds or debris. Mechanical and electrical equipment may be undersized to handle new temperature extremes. Roof supports may not be able to handle increasing snow loads. The emotional and logistical stresses of climate change may also worsen civil unrest, resulting in more man-made crises
Repairing and recovering from damage after a disaster can get very expensive, very quickly. However, according to the 2017 Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves Interim Report, every dollar spent exceeding the 2015 International Building Code’s baseline standards on hazard mitigation will save four dollars over the long run. If a 4:1 return on investment isn’t enticing enough, a 23-year-long study conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Institute of Building Sciences found that federal mitigation grants provided by FEMA, the Economic Development Administration, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development resulted in saving $6 for every $1 invested in mitigation.
Strategies and Assessments
Hazard mitigation means reducing vulnerability and therefore risk. It also needs to consider future generations and an escalation of hazards. It does not need to break the bank. By identifying the essential programmatic features that a station must have, architects, engineers, and designers can consolidate resources to allow for greater budgetary freedom to incorporate resiliency measures. For example, by designing multi-use spaces, a station can reduce square footage, unnecessary circulation paths, and redundancies. All non-essential functions can relocate to out-buildings or off site completely to cost-effectively prioritize mitigation measures.
There are five steps to developing a vulnerability assessment. The first is identifying potential hazards, including microclimate, topography, vegetation, neighboring property composition, and local infrastructure. The second is characterizing interdependencies, such as the location, age, and vulnerability of local utilities and infrastructure. Next is characterizing the social dimensions of a building, meaning the required functions and capacities of a building relative to the people using it. Fourth is identifying the impacts of a potential hazard event on a building component or piece of equipment. This entails identifying which systems are most likely to be impacted and predicting the extent of the damage. Finally, a vulnerability assessment should recommend performance goals and prioritize issues based on the relative exposure to risk and the consequences of failure.
Case Study – The Saratoga Public Safety Facility
We look to the Saratoga Public Safety Facility as a model of what kind of value these assessments provide. During the design and programming phase of this project, stakeholders and the architect performed a vulnerability assessment and identified the likely threats to the facility. The threats ranged from natural causes, such as tornadoes and wind-borne debris, to man-made threats. Through careful planning, the team maintained the project budget by consolidating much of the critical infrastructure and essential uses into a “central core.” The corridors and means of egress servicing the core are also considered critical and received the same treatment. This allowed for the allocation of some of the budget toward hardening the core, while maintaining a more traditional budget and construction process for the various offices and services around it. Within the core, a Public Safety Answering Point, Emergency Operations Center, and critical IT infrastructure are safe from the threats identified in the original assessment.
Technical guidance, tools, and rating systems that include strategies for hazard mitigation already exist and are freely available. These documents are extensive and are frequently updated. Licensed architects and engineers are trained in these tools and techniques. It is their role to work at the intersection of planet, place, and people to protect human health, safety, and welfare. Consult with a licensed professional on your next project to determine how your station can improve its climate resiliency.
