The eighth annual Climate Innovation Forum opened London Climate Action Week 2026 at Guildhall, London. The global event brings together leaders from business, policy and finance to accelerate climate action. As part of the programme, IStructE, in partnership with Laing O’Rourke, assembled 20 senior stakeholders and thought leaders for a spirited and thought-provoking roundtable discussion on climate resilience in the built environment. Participants represented a broad range of sectors, including finance, government, construction and professional bodies.
The session aimed to test assumptions about resilience, identify the practical blockers hindering progress, explore where lasting change comes from and define what is needed to unlock faster action.
Why resilience, why now?
The discussion opened with reflections on what resilience means for the built environment. An early view from the panel was that the sector is already operating in an unstable and fragile world, where increasingly frequent and complex climate-related hazards are exposing the limitations of protective systems, design assumptions and governance models. Extreme weather events, violent storms, flooding and heatwaves are increasing in size and frequency every year and across all geographies, testing the capacity and robustness of infrastructure and building systems.
It was argued that, in many cases, existing standards, investment models and design practices no longer reflect current or projected climate risk. The panel agreed that this growing gap between historic assumptions and emerging realities has become a strategic issue for businesses and public bodies. In short, resilience should no longer be treated as additional, but recognised as a critical safety, performance and continuity concern.
Defining resilience
A key theme was the complexity of resilience, and the recognition that it cannot be addressed through a single solution, discipline or intervention.
The assembled experts agreed that a systems approach is essential to improving long-term outcomes across the built environment. This means enabling stakeholders across the whole asset lifecycle to collaborate, share knowledge and data from past projects, apply consistent standards and embed lessons learned into both existing assets and future projects.
The discussion also challenged the idea of resilience as a static or binary outcome. Instead, describing resilience as a continuing process of systemic change, spanning environmental, social and economic dimensions and shaped by evolving standards, evidence and climate projections. This process must be actively monitored, reviewed and updated over time. The panel agreed that any working definition of resilience should go beyond protection alone and encompass mitigation, adaptation, regeneration, response and recovery.
Barriers to resilience
The discussion then turned to the real-world blockers that hinder progress. Securing appropriate funding and investment to build, adapt and maintain robust infrastructure was identified as a central challenge.
The roundtable highlighted the need for clearer governmental ownership of adaptation and climate resilience, potentially through a dedicated senior ministerial role, department or cross-government body. Without formal policy leadership and accountability, it was argued that adaptation and resilience measures are difficult to fund, coordinate and deliver.
Interdisciplinary communication was raised as another major barrier. Where clients, designers, engineers, contractors, operators, insurers, investors and regulators work in silos, opportunities to embed resilience across the design, construction, operation and maintenance of assets can be missed. Other blockers identified by the panel included the absence of a cohesive long-term vision, inconsistent messaging and a tendency towards short-term decision-making.
Views of the future
In the final discussion, the panel considered the changes they would like to see over the coming years. These included stronger alignment between policy, standards and investment; better use of data in decision-making; clearer ownership of resilience risks across asset lifecycles; and greater collaboration between disciplines and sectors.
The roundtable concluded that climate resilience is a highly complex challenge requiring a holistic, systemic, collaborative and integrated approach. Accelerating action will depend on clearer leadership, better investment models, stronger cross-sector coordination and a shared commitment to ensuring the long-term safety, performance and adaptability of global infrastructure.
More details of the Climate Innovation Forum roundtable on climate resilience and risk in the built environment will feature in The Structural Engineer September 2026.
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Climate Innovation Forum 2026 at Guildhall, London
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A view of the Senior roundtable on climate resilience and risk in the built environment
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Signage of the Senior roundtable on climate resilience and risk in the built environment
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IStructE President Elect Keith WIlliams, and Head of Sustainability at Laing O'Rourke Rossella Nicolin
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A view of the Senior roundtable on climate resilience and risk in the built environment
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Elizabeth Marlow giving context/problem framing presentation
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IStructE Technical Director Patrick Hayes, Moderator of the roundtable Rossella Nicolin and Presenter Elizabeth Marlow
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Roundtable attendees
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Climate Innovation Forum 2026 at Guildhall, London