Progress towards sustainable development is gathering pace in the UK. Many government initiatives have been announced in recent years: the 2005 Sustainable Development Strategy: Securing the Future, the 2006 Code for Sustainable Homes, the initiation of the Academy for Sustainable Communities and the Communities England Agency. Activity and thinking are also being influenced by preparations for the 2012 Olympics. Targets set are challenging, aspirations are high, but there is no established or guaranteed road map to achieve them and traditionally separate and centralised delivery of water, energy and other services may not be able to deliver their share of the improvements needed. However, synergies, innovation, cost savings and environmental benefits may be achieved through more holistic thinking, different scales of provision, by greater integration between different service sectors and through different business delivery models. So far, there are few significant examples in the UK of this approach. So, this timely research will explore the extent to which more integrated urban utility service provision can contribute to this agenda and enhance the adaptive capacity of these systems, vital to ensure long-term sustainability under changing climatic, environmental, demographic and economic conditions. This will be demonstrated by working in partnership with Ashford's Future as they deliver regeneration and sustainable development in this key area.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Reliable water supply is fundamental to human health and wellbeing, and in the UK is underpinned by inter-linked infrastructure for abstraction, storage, treatment and conveyance of potable and wastewater. Climate change has the potential to affect the UK water system in a number of ways: through changes in the water available for abstraction and storage, especially through altered drought frequency and intensity, changes in demand and changing risk of infrastructure failure.This project aims to develop a set of analysis tools and data on climate change and future demand that will enable users to identify packages of options that results in heightened reslience of the UK water system to these uncertain future drivers. The multi-criteria approach to be developed will also allow alternative adaptation options to be assessed against other criteria, such as environmental sustatinability, energy costs and public acceptability.The focus of the study is South and East England, an area that is already experiencing water system stress, and likely to be subject to additional stresses in the future due to climate change and demographic changes.The methods and results of this research will enable the UK to better plan for adaptation of the water system to climate change, and will help identify the polciy and regulatory changes that would be needed for adaptation to take place.The project has been designed in collaboration with stakeholders from government (DEFRA, EA, OFWAT, GLA), the water industry (UKWIR, Water UK and a number of water companies) and NGOs with an interest in water. These same stakeholders will be involved throughout the project as project partners.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.