Lab Leaks: How Biotech Buildings Face Flood Risks From Climate Change The still-growing life sciences real estate market is facing an increasingly common and costly threat to property of all kinds: natural disasters. And since many of the core markets for life sciences in the nation are on the coasts, these properties will specifically deal with challenges related to intensifying rainfall, sea level rise and flooding due to the impacts of climate change. Rising waters likely translate to rising costs. Forecasts for increased climate risk, which vary wildly and may be conservative as the globe warms faster than expected, are pushing developers to invest more heavily in resiliency, increasing costs for new lab space and requiring retrofits for existing facilities, as they pursue development in already-established coastal hubs. These added costs, along with considerations like pricier insurance policies, come on top of the usually more complex and expensive development process required to construct a lab than a typical office or industrial property. 
“Parts of Boston really are uniquely vulnerable to coastal flooding, both inundation and stormwater and precipitation,” said Kate Dineen, president and CEO of A Better City, a nonprofit focused on sustainability and the built environment in the Boston region. “The risks are really quite striking. There are some neighborhoods that… Read the full story here. | 
