PARNASSUS: Ensuring integrity, preserving significance: value based flood resilience for protection of cultural heritage from climate change impact

The proposal develops an interdisciplinary system to quantify risk of historic buildings and archaeological sites to driving rain and flooding as caused by climate change; it will evaluate structural vulnerability by defining adequate impact indicators and propose adaptation strategies classified by increased resilience against loss of significance. Project activities are set within the framework of risk management and uncertainty methods.
The proposal addresses how the causes of damage or material change to cultural heritage can be better understood, and when is material change acceptable and damage unacceptable.
This requires investigation of the nature of changes and transformation in materials and of the resilience and adaptation capacity of the built heritage. The objectives of the proposal are:
- Definition of criteria and protocols to identify acceptable limits of damage; define consistent protocols for modelling material change; use of risk, monitoring and simulation to inform life-cycle and cost/benefits studies and new or improved conservation interventions.
- Impact of flooding, rising water level, driving rain and thermal cycles on structural integrity of historic buildings and archaeological sites
- Assessment of novel adaptation techniques to be implemented to enhance resilience of historic buildings and sites to climate change impacts.
The collaboration of structural and environmental modellers and specialists in cultural heritage, working on specific case studies and supported by professional practitioners and the heritage institutional bodies, ensures robust results applicable in practice.
Roughly dressed, rubble masonry, earth structures, infilled in timber frames, are the chosen constitutive materials as they are particularly vulnerable at joint and footing level to driving rain and flood. Hence effects of exacerbated structural damage caused by environmental agents can be successfully measured within the project timeframe. An overall approach based on extreme events statistical analysis and quantification of uncertainty will inform all aspects of the research, so that reliability will be in-built in the evaluation of the risk and adaptation measures The research will be case study based to facilitate direct feedback of results into practice. On-site monitoring and laboratory tests will be conducted, considering the combined effects of driving rain and flooding.
The proposed case studies areas are: Tewkesbury, scheduled area at south end of town near the Abbey; Deerhurst, archaeological sites and significant historic buildings; Cottown, Perthshire, cob walls compromised by flooding; Winchester cathedral crypt and Winchester College; York, Lendal Bridge towers and buildings on the Eastern riverbank; Bodiam Castle. The case studies have been chosen according to flooding hazard and to the diversity of age, materials, construction techniques, significance and historical documentation of the heritage buildings and archeological remains in the six areas. Their continued occupation through time allows to: gain historical perspective by looking at past adaptations to documented climate changes; investigate effects on current risk; define urgency of adaptation. Research tasks cover:
-Survey of buildings and stakeholders of study area to identify selected buildings for in depth study
-Study of secondary literature to identify significance of historic climate change
-Flood and driving rain probability analysis and scenarios
- Laser scanning and restitution of the building at different scales
-On site monitoring and lab testing to define damage thresholds
-Hydraulic an structural modelling
-Assessment of resilience and validation of adaptation measures.
-Generalisation and dissemination of results through drafting of guidelines.

Four levels of beneficiaries can be identified for this proposal:

Project partners
Wider academic community
Heritage organisations
Local inhabitants

Besides the Academic Partners' staff and their PhD students whose research expertise and knowledge will benefit directly from the outcome of the project, the industrial and institutional partners will also directly benefit by taking part in the project. The research will impact on the nation's economic performance by assessing materials performance and by indicating measure to prevent flood and driving rain damage. Furthermore, the successful completion of the project and wider application findings will enhance the quality of life and the nation's historic building stock. The timescale for the benefits to be realized is as follows:

Immediate and medium-term benefit (up to five years from end of project). Academics, heritage organizations will benefit at completion of the project and after publication of journal articles. The final report will be sent to Governmental bodies and other conservation organizations.
Long-term benefit (five years onwards) will be gained after publication of the BRE Guidance document on Effectiveness of Adaptation measures for Improving resilience of Historic Buildings from Flood and Driving Rain. The implementation of such guidance will not only reduce costs of impact of major dmaging events, but will also improve the environmental health and hence public health.
In order to determine whether the project is feasible for development beyond research (commercial impact), cost relative to preservation measures will be assessed.
Several tools will be employed to increase the likelihood of impacts:
Dissemination to the academic community will occur by participation of the academic partners to key international conferences, and by major peer reviewed journal articles, for example in Journal of Archaeological Science, Antiquity, Materials and Structures, International Journal of Architectural Heritage, Journal of Architectural Conservation, Climatic Change, etc.
Other forms of outputs will be: VAST Eurographics for the modelling and scanning; On-line data sets available through ADS; upload of data and findings to European NET-Heritage Portal.
A one day International workshop will be organized by Bath University with key researchers and end users;
The publication of the Guidelines will be an essential tool for building users and practitioners on how to prepare and what to do after flooding.
A website will be online after 2 months form the inception of the project and after completion of the project as a showcase for the project progress and main results of use to the wider audience.
Open days on the case study areas will be organised with the help of local authorities and local/national Heritage organisation to explain the activity carried out on specific buildings and divulgate the potential impacts to the wider community.
If the project is successful further funding will be sought form professional Institutions to organise training and CPD courses to disseminate findings to surveyors, conservators, engineers, insurers.