Influencing policy and practice, for the University of Exeter

Built to stand the test of time: how PROMETHEUS weather files can guard buildings against climate change

Brief

The way the UK construction industry adapts to the threat of global warming could be transformed by University of Exeter research that predicts the weather for decades to come. The PROMETHEUS project, the work of physicists at the university’s Centre for Energy and the Environment (CEE), facilitates the design of new buildings by calculating changing local climate patterns up to the year 2080. Bulletin Academic was asked to help engage industry and policymakers to pave the way for PROMETHEUS to become the industry standard for testing the resilience of buildings to climate change.

Strategy

We contacted key industry bodies whose backing would be required for PROMETHEUS to succeed. We wrote two research briefings – one with a regulatory emphasis for the policy community and the other with a practical focus for industry – and distributed them to 100 leading architects, engineers, industry bodies and policy advisers. We worked with the university’s RKT team to attract companies to countrywide workshops, produced a document detailing PROMETHEUS’s influence on the design process of four case studies, informed stakeholders of the project’s progress and used industry events as networking opportunities. We also prepared a media briefing for distribution by the university’s communications team.

Impact

In two months we took PROMETHEUS a substantial way along the pathway to impact. The dataset has now been used for £3 billion worth of building projects and has influenced the sustainability practices of leading engineering and design firms. We secured a speaking slot for a CEE academic at an event for industry and government advisers, attracted high-profile industry figures to workshops and engaged key policy advisers from DEFRA and DCLG. Our work also prompted an industry body to offer to publish the PROMETHEUS files.