Design professional’s duty to design to mitigate against extreme weather damage
September 12, 2018
Design professionals may be held to an enhanced standard of care to consider foreseeable risk of damages from failure to design to mitigate flood loss and damages.
Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and excessive rains causing severe flooding, seem to be increasingly in the news and on the public’s mind. This briefing addresses the legal and ethical responsibilities that design professionals must consider with respect to climate volatility when designing projects. Is resiliency such an important obligation that a design professional must design for it based on current science – and the evidence and facts at hand – even if the law, regulations and government agencies do not require it?