Retrofitting existing infrastructure: climate resilience priorities for civil engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
Retrofitting existing infrastructure is presented as a critical response to climate change impacts now clearly visible after 25 years of civil engineering practice, from more frequent flooding to heat-related material degradation. The argument centres on upgrading bridges, highways and drainage assets rather than wholesale replacement, using measures such as additional scour protection, increased freeboard, upsized culverts and improved thermal detailing of pavements and expansion joints. For practitioners, this points to prioritising asset condition assessment, climate-adjusted design checks and staged strengthening works within constrained maintenance budgets.
Technical Brief
- The author draws on 25 years’ civil engineering experience to evidence climate-driven performance deterioration.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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