by Brianna Crandall — May 23, 2016 — The American Institute of Architects (AIA), National Institute of Building Sciences, and 38 other leaders of America’s design and construction industry recently released a report on progress made on the resilience front since the Resilience Building Coalition announced the Building Industry Statement on Resilience two years ago.
The Resilience Building Coalition also released a set of guiding principles to help the building industry adopt resilient design and policies. These include:
- Developing and advocating for codes and policies that advance resilience;
- Developing “whole-systems resilient design” approaches for the built environment; and
- Providing guidance, beyond the baseline life-safety codes, that recognizes the importance of fortifying property for individual and community resilience.
Since the initial signing, the Coalition has added 19 new signatories (a complete list is available at the end of the AIA announcement).
The report includes results from a survey of signatories about how their work has been impacted by the Building Industry Statement on Resilience. Among the survey’s major findings:
- A majority of signatories report that they have “become more aware of their unique role in achieving resilience” since committing to the statement, which has clearly catalyzed the integration of resilience goals into existing organizational frameworks.
- Almost 30 percent of respondents have seen an increase in resilience as a priority within their organizations.
- More than two-thirds of respondents listed high-performance buildings as an initiative they were most interested in advancing.
- More than half of the responding signatories have used the Statement to “advance their organizational mission statement / values,” as well as “provide support and / or validation for moving forward on organization initiatives.” This shift in organizational priorities has led to concrete action.
- Respondents reported more than 40 initiatives they have begun that support the resilience focus areas committed to in the Statement.
The report is an outgrowth of a landmark agreement made in May 2014, in which leaders of America’s design and construction industry agreed to promote resilience in contemporary planning, building materials, design, construction and operational techniques as the solution for making the nation’s aging infrastructure more safe and secure.
The original Industry Statement on Resilience and the new progress report, Preparing to Thrive: Building Industry Statement on Resilience are available on the AIA Web site. The progress report was released in conjunction with the White House Conference on Resilient Building Codes.
