Environment
Environmental consulting solutions for responsible, resilient and sustainable development including impact assessment, ecology and contamination management.
No Content Set
Exception:
Website.Models.ViewModels.Components.General.Banners.BannerComponentVm
Services
Technical services and consulting solutions for clients in the property, energy, transport, water, resources, defence and government sectors.
Advisory and management consulting
Communications, creative and digital
Design and development
Environment
Exploration and development
Health, safety and risk
Laboratories
Oceans and coastal
Planning and approvals
Project and program management
Training
Water services
Advisory and management consulting
RPS advisory and management consulting services for businesses and projects, including economics, due diligence, transaction advisory, ESG and more.
Communications, creative and digital
Communications, creative and digital solutions for governments and businesses including community engagement, design, research, data and software development.
Design and development
Technical and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure and cities including architecture, engineering, surveying, landscape architecture and urban design.
Environment
Environmental consulting solutions for responsible, resilient and sustainable development including impact assessment, ecology and contamination management.
Exploration and development
Technical services for energy projects including seismic operations, drilling and wellsite geology, reservoir management, independent reporting and more.
Health, safety and risk
From safety case development to emergency response strategy, discover services and expertise to reduce your risk profile and keep people safe.
Laboratories
Scientific analysis services for AgroScience, food safety, workplace exposure, environmental analysis and contaminants of concern in Europe and the UK.
Oceans and coastal
RPS technical solutions for marine infrastructure and offshore development including coastal engineering, marine biology metocean science, and emergency response.
Planning and approvals
Development strategy, planning and approval solutions for buildings, infrastructure, transport and city projects and investments.
Project and program management
Project management solutions for the most complex building, infrastructure, organisational change, and systems projects.
Training
Specialist training services, programs and accreditation for health, safety and risk, project management, and energy sector capability development.
Water services
Solutions for the water sector including quality monitoring, modelling, infrastructure design, engineering and asset management.
Sectors
World-leading technical and consulting solutions for clients in the property, energy, transport, resources, water, defence and government sectors.
Property
Energy
Transport
Defence and government services
Water
Resources
Property
Design, technical and advisory services for the property sector, including residential, commercial, retail, industrial, health, education and data centre projects.
Energy
Energy exploration, development and optimisation solutions for renewables, power and gas networks, energy storage, oil and gas and nuclear facilties.
Transport
Smart, safe and sustainable transport infrastructure development services and advice for rail, aviation, port and road clients and projects.
Defence and government services
Expertise for defence capability and infrastructure investments, security and safety projects, and information and telecommunications initatives.
Water
Discover our industry-leading strategy, design and management solutions for wastewater, groundwater, flooding, drainage and network infrastructure.
Resources
Commercial data, design advice and technical management solutions for safe and environmentally responsible resource exploration and operations.
Technical services and consulting solutions for clients in the property, energy, transport, water, resources, defence and government sectors.
Advisory and management consulting
Communications, creative and digital
RPS advisory and management consulting services for businesses and projects, including economics, due diligence, transaction advisory, ESG and more.
Project investment and finance
Explore Advisory and management consultingCommunications, creative and digital solutions for governments and businesses including community engagement, design, research, data and software development.
Creative, visualisation and immersive design
Data management, analytics and insights
Explore Communications, creative and digitalTechnical and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure and cities including architecture, engineering, surveying, landscape architecture and urban design.
Environmental consulting solutions for responsible, resilient and sustainable development including impact assessment, ecology and contamination management.
Acoustics, noise and vibration
Contaminated land and remediation
Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental permitting and compliance
Sustainability and climate resilience
Explore EnvironmentTechnical services for energy projects including seismic operations, drilling and wellsite geology, reservoir management, independent reporting and more.
Asset and reservoir management
Drilling support and wellsite geology
Field development planning and operations
Reserves and independent reporting
Seismic operations management and support
Exploration and appraisal studies
Unitisation and equity determination
Unexploded ordnances (UXO) and Explosive remnants of war (ERW)
Explore Exploration and developmentFrom safety case development to emergency response strategy, discover services and expertise to reduce your risk profile and keep people safe.
Asbestos and hazardous materials management
Construction (design and management) principal designer
Health, safety, risk assessment and management
Explore Health, safety and riskScientific analysis services for AgroScience, food safety, workplace exposure, environmental analysis and contaminants of concern in Europe and the UK.
RPS technical solutions for marine infrastructure and offshore development including coastal engineering, marine biology metocean science, and emergency response.
Commercial fisheries advice and services
24/7 response modelling and support services
Marine life mitigation - PSOs, MMOs and PAM
Metocean, Science and Technology
Explore Oceans and coastalDevelopment strategy, planning and approval solutions for buildings, infrastructure, transport and city projects and investments.
Project management solutions for the most complex building, infrastructure, organisational change, and systems projects.
Cost management / quantity surveying
Explore Project and program managementSpecialist training services, programs and accreditation for health, safety and risk, project management, and energy sector capability development.
Capability development and training for the energy sector
Explore TrainingSolutions for the water sector including quality monitoring, modelling, infrastructure design, engineering and asset management.
Water quality modelling and monitoring
Water and wastewater network modelling and asset management
Water and wastewater infrastructure design
Explore Water services
World-leading technical and consulting solutions for clients in the property, energy, transport, resources, water, defence and government sectors.
Design, technical and advisory services for the property sector, including residential, commercial, retail, industrial, health, education and data centre projects.
Energy exploration, development and optimisation solutions for renewables, power and gas networks, energy storage, oil and gas and nuclear facilties.
Smart, safe and sustainable transport infrastructure development services and advice for rail, aviation, port and road clients and projects.
Expertise for defence capability and infrastructure investments, security and safety projects, and information and telecommunications initatives.
Information and telecommunications
Explore Defence and government servicesDiscover our industry-leading strategy, design and management solutions for wastewater, groundwater, flooding, drainage and network infrastructure.
UK and Ireland regulated water asset management
Explore WaterCommercial data, design advice and technical management solutions for safe and environmentally responsible resource exploration and operations.
We define, design and manage projects that create shared value to a complex, urbanising and resource-scarce world.
Brilliant minds finding solutions to complex problems, made easy to understand. Making complex easy.
Natural Hazards, Climate Change, and Coastal Impacts
Coastal communities are threatened by natural hazards including coastal storms, water inundation, marine debris and tsunamis, in addition to population growth, overdevelopment, and loss of natural resources. Additionally, climate change exacerbates the effects of many of the natural hazards by impacting the sea level and increasing the intensity and frequency of extreme events.
US
Identifying these hazards and preparing for them allows managers of coastal communities to take proactive measures that not only can reduce loss of life, but also decrease economic loss. Natural hazard mitigation saves $6 on average for every $1 spent on federal mitigation grants, according to an analysis by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). NIBS reports: "In most coastal locations subject to hurricane surge, it can be cost-effective to build the first floor up to 10 feet above base flood elevation, in some places saving more than $12 per $1 of added cost.”
Coastal resilience is the ability to adapt to changing conditions, and withstand and rapidly recover from disruption due to emergencies (NOAA NOS[1]). Managers in coastal communities need to understand their existing vulnerabilities, assess the risk, and develop appropriate adaptation and mitigation plans for changing future conditions. The UN’s National Climate Assessment reported our globe is not adapting to climate change as quickly as we need to: “The extent and magnitude of climate change impacts are larger than estimated in previous assessments”, particularly highlighting “substantial damages” and “increasingly irreversible losses” to ecosystems and “shifts in seasonal timing”. The report also stated that globally, about a billion people are projected to be at risk from coastal-specific climate hazards in the mid-term.
[1] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service
In coastal areas, informed and quick decisions are essential to both minimizing loss from hazards and also prepare for a variety of sea level rise scenarios and more severe events, with lives and infrastructures at stake. Decision-makers in coastal communities may require unique solutions to face the hazards specific to their region.
RPS supports local business owners, governmental organizations, regional managers and planners and decision-makers to assess the risks and develop cost-effective solutions. To empower decision-makers, RPS leverages state-of-the-art scientific approaches from global to local scales, and assesses the risk, monitors the environmental condition, and evaluates adaptation and mitigation needs and priorities to build resilience, and develop adaptive solutions.
In addition to providing technical expertise and pragmatic and scientific solutions, RPS supports decision-makers by developing user-friendly tools and creating custom data portals. The goal is to synthesize and analyse data more quickly and easily and make public data more accessible. For example, RPS developed the Northeast Ocean Data Portal which supports federal, state and tribal agencies as they plan for coastal resilience. In collaboration with The Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC) and other strong partners, RPS maintains the Portal, ensuring that data is current and relevant to emerging priorities, developing constant improvements of the site, and ensuring that the website is consistently tested and functional for users.
RPS also supports its environmental risk and private sector clients through the acquisition process to assess the climate resilience of properties. This service offering is complimenting the standard ESG process that helps inform investors through widely-used metrics of Environmental, Social and Governance factors. While the Environmental component of ESG typically considers factors such as carbon footprint and water and waste management, the recent climate risk assessment offering defines risk from natural hazards and a company’s potential exposure to climate change and its exacerbating forces. This service offering provides decision-makers with an understanding of existing and future environmental conditions, in addition to identifying requirements to recover, adapt, grow, and maintain resiliency.
RPS provides detailed assessments at the federal, regional, state, and local levels with environmental expertise. Coastal assessments include predictions of flooding and inundation as well as shoreline and habitat responses to changing conditions (e.g., sea levels, temperatures, and wave action). RPS has the capability of modeling coastal processes including inundation from sea level rise (SLR), storm surge, waves, shoreline change, hydro-morphological changes (pre/post SLR conditions or storms or with mitigation plans) and beach nourishment assessments. RPS also supports resilience planning with ecological/habitat modelling assessments.
In the Gulf Coast Storm Surge Project, RPS engineers analyzed the environmental constraints of the Gulf of Mexico region as a key part of the study. The result was a solution with an estimated total cost of approximately $11 billion and a benefit-to-cost ratio of 3.1 over a life span reaching to 2085, influencing 4,300 square miles and six counties. Once constructed, this vital protection for the Texas coast will include a structure only found in one other location worldwide—the Netherlands. This will prevent billions of dollars in damages and economic loss and ensure sustainability for one of the nation’s most important ecosystems. The work received the 2017 American Council of Engineering Companies Texas Engineering Excellence Awards Silver Medal and the 2017 American Public Works Association Texas Chapter Project of the Year Award in the Environmental Category under $2 million.
During the National Park Coastal Flood Modeling project, RPS partnered with the University of Rhode Island and the US National Park Service (NPS) on an initiative to assess the vulnerability of three coastal NPS properties that experienced severe flooding associated with the landfall of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The approach focused on developing both high accuracy elevation data and new inundation models to evaluate storm surges under current and future SLR conditions. The project resulted in a robust data infrastructure and technical procedures that will be used in preparing for and responding to future storms at these properties. RPS developed a custom application using the Advanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) computer model, which was resolved to capture detailed coastal features such as inlets, marshes, and nearshore bars, and was updated with the best available elevation data including post-Sandy LiDAR and ground survey points at key park infrastructure.
Additionally, RPS led a project for the Rhode Island Division of Statewide Planning to create business-specific Risk Reduction Guides to help small businesses become more resilient to extreme weather events. RPS conducted an Exposure Analysis to determine what areas of the state are most vulnerable to flooding events and power outages. To gauge the vulnerabilities and the lessons learned from past events, the Project Team performed over 100 vulnerability assessments with small business owners in four Pilot Areas identified through the Exposure Analysis. Input collected from these assessments and other outreach events was used to inform the creation of useful Risk Reduction Guides to benefit small businesses statewide.
With a variety of experts and experience, RPS creates custom solutions and models and analyses for locations with unique mitigation needs. Coastal communities can develop the necessary planning, with support from RPS, to coexist with the environment in a changing climate.
Learn more about how RPS helps to tackle Water Scarcity & Climate Change related impacts by visiting the link below.