Standard Guide for Property Resilience Assessments

Importancia y uso:

4.1 This guide is intended for use on a voluntary basis by parties such as real estate investors, owners, operators, lenders, and insurers (users) who wish to better understand the natural hazards, including those made more extreme by climate change, that may be affecting a property. A user may include a purchaser, tenant, owner, investor, lender, developer, designer, building professional, or property manager of the target property. This guide outlines procedures for conducting a PRA for specific users, considering the user’s requirements.

4.2 Uses—This guide may be used for the purposes outlined above and by the users defined in 3.2.4 who may obtain a PRA during real estate investment, development, risk management and reporting, facilities management, capital planning, operations and maintenance, underwriting or financing activities. There is nothing in this guide that would prevent a user from requiring more than a baseline PRA to meet its needs as part of its scope of work or approval process.

4.3 Types of Investigations—This guide provides suggested approaches for the performance of the PRA. A user may contract for Stage 1 only in a Stage 1 PRA, or the entire process from Stage 1 through 3. A user may also contract for a PRA for a single building, multiple buildings, or a portfolio of properties (see 6.3). Although much of the PRA guide is directed to the PRA process for existing buildings, the PRA process can also be applied to planned development, new construction, and substantial renovation projects assuming sufficient design detail is provided. In addition, this guide may be used for a broad variety of structures and infrastructure, though some specialized facilities may require additional expertise.

4.4 Application and Temporal Relevance of Report—The user should only rely on the PRA for the specific purpose that it was intended and upon confirmation that the target property is in the condition it was at the time of assessment and that the considerations evaluated within the PRA have not materially changed. In addition, due to the evolving nature of climate conditions and ongoing operations and maintenance considerations, a PRA has a limited time of effectiveness. A PRA over 12 months old, or a PRA for a target property impacted by a significant hazard event or subject to significant updates to natural hazard resources (such as flood maps) since the PRA was issued, should no longer be considered reliable unless a PRA professional has determined that the above resulted in no material changes and the PRA remains valid. The intent of this guidance is not that users would need to maintain a current PRA on file annually, but rather that if decisions are being made, a PRA older than 12 months may not be reliable.

4.5 Availability of Information—This guide recognizes that a provider’s opinions and observations may be affected by or contingent on information that is readily available for the provider during the PRA process. For instance, a provider’s observations may be affected by the number of people using the building or the availability of property management to provide information, such as detailed building construction information, elevation certificates, or construction documents.

4.6 Property-Specific—PRAs are property-specific in that they relate to a single property, multiple improvements at a single site, or a portfolio of properties. While the evaluation practices in this guide are generally property-specific, there is nothing in this guide that would prevent a PRA professional from conducting a hazard screening of a portfolio of properties in Stage 1. Properties selected for Stages 2 and 3 should then receive individual PRA reports, as further discussed in 4.7.3 and 6.3.

4.7 Principles—The following principles are an integral part of this guide and should be referred to in resolving any ambiguity or exercising such discretion as is accorded to the user or the provider. The principles should also be used in judging whether a user or provider has conducted an appropriate PRA.

4.7.1 Uncertainty Not Eliminated—No assessment can fully quantify or wholly eliminate uncertainty regarding the hazards and potential risks to a property, especially with respect to estimates of future climate conditions. The successive stages of investigation described in this guide are intended to reduce, but not eliminate, uncertainty. This guide acknowledges the reasonable limits of time and cost related to a selected stage of assessment.

4.7.2 Not Exhaustive—There is a point at which the cost of gathering information outweighs the usefulness of the information and, in fact, may be detrimental to the orderly completion of transactions within the resources available to support the investigation. This guide acknowledges this and suggests that a balance be sought between the competing goals of limiting the costs and time demands versus limiting the resulting uncertainty by acquiring as much information as possible.

4.7.3 Assessment Scope—Not every property warrants the same extent of assessment. Consistent with good commercial or customary practice, choosing the appropriate scope of assessment is guided by the type and age of the target property subject to assessment, the resources and time available, the anticipated hazards and risks, the expertise and risk tolerance of the user, and the information developed during the PRA. Users may choose to work with a PRA professional to conduct Stage 1 PRA screenings of a portfolio of properties, and then over time, complete Stage 2 and 3 of the PRA process only for those sites that are identified as a concern based on the user’s purposes and risk thresholds. This guide provides flexibility to align with the user’s goals and objectives and emphasizes transparency in the depth of assessment engaged and completed by the PRA professional. Additional information is provided in Appendix X4.

4.7.4 Subsequent Use of the PRA—This guide recognizes that assessments of buildings based on the approaches discussed herein may include information that subsequent users will want to use to avoid undertaking duplicative investigations. Consequently, usage of prior reports is based on the following principles that should be adhered to in addition to the specific procedures set forth in this guide.

4.7.4.1 Use of Prior Information—Information contained in prior reports may be helpful to assist in understanding the target property and planning the current PRA but should serve only as an aid to the provider and should be verified during completion of a current assessment. Prior PRAs should not be used without current investigation of conditions likely to affect the findings, as discussed in 4.4.

4.7.4.2 Use of Prior Assessments—Objectives, information, and evaluation methods may change over time. A prior PRA prepared for specific stages of assessment may be used in its entirety, without regard to specific procedures set forth in this guide, if, in the judgment of the PRA professional, the prior report was prepared meeting or exceeding the requirements of the current version of this guide and the PRA considerations are not likely to have changed materially since the prior report was prepared. In making this judgment, the PRA professional should consider the scope and limitations of the prior report, and any new information related to the hazards, building or target property, as well as current site conditions.

4.7.4.3 Actual Knowledge Exception—If the user or the PRA professional has actual knowledge that the information being used from a prior PRA is not accurate or suspected of being inaccurate, then such information from a prior report should not be used.

Subcomité:

E06.25

Volúmen:

04.12

Palabras clave:

climate adaptation; climate risk assessment; natural hazard mitigation; property resilience; vulnerability assessment; ;