The Department of Building Economics hosted the 89th Building Economics and Management Research Unit (BEMRU) Colloquium on the 28th of March 2025, featuring distinguished speaker Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga from the University of Huddersfield, UK. Professor Amaratunga is a leading international expert in disaster resilience with 19 years of experience as a Professor of Disaster Management and Disaster Risk Reduction in the UK and is also among the most notable alumni of the Department of Building Economics.
The event, held at the Department's Auditorium, focused on the topic "The Impact of Climate Change on the Built Environment: The Urgency to Scale New Solutions for a Liveable Future." Professor Amaratunga delivered an insightful presentation highlighting the significant challenges climate change poses to our built environment. Her talk emphasized how severe hazards including droughts, rising sea levels, heat waves, and floods increasingly threaten infrastructure and communities worldwide. The colloquium stimulated robust discussion on innovative design strategies, sustainable construction materials and methods, and policy frameworks that could better protect vulnerable infrastructure.
