2024 was a tough year for the US when it came to climate-related disasters, and already, with the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, 2025 is off to a terrible start. Hurricanes alone took nearly 300 lives and caused over $200 billion in damages last year. Hurricane Helene slammed into west Florida, but its impact reached far inland, even hitting places once considered “climate havens”, like Asheville, North Carolina.

Our practice has projects in flood-prone areas of Florida, as well as in New York and New Jersey. As in the UK, local building and zoning rules require residential projects to be at least one foot above the “1-in-100-year” flood level – a flood with a 1% chance of happening each year. This often means designing buildings with their main entrance five to six feet above street level and ensuring that the entire structure is also wet- or dry-flood-proofed to that height.

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