1. 1. Rationale of research 7. Further works8. References Damage to the built environment and the consequential effects of this damage contributes significantly to economic loss from natural disasters (Haigh, 2010; UNDP, 2013). See Figure 1. 3. Objectives 1.To identify and assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of disasters on businesses; 2.To examine the loss mitigation measures that can be adopted by SMEs to address the economic impacts of disaster; 3.To evaluate the characteristics of risks of investing in disaster resilience; 4.To assess barriers to private investment and benefits of investing in disaster resilience; 5.To develop an instrument for assessing disaster resilience maturity level of the built environment of SMEs; 6.To assess the relationship between built environment disaster resilience maturity level and expected economic loss from a disaster; and 7.To develop and validate the framework that incorporates disaster resilience maturity level and economic loss. The conceptual framework is currently being developed, expert forum review will commence soon. Other activities will be carried out as outlined in the method section. The aim of this research is to develop a framework that encourages investment in disaster resilience of the built environment for the business sector through the analysis of disaster resilience maturity levels and risks associated with each level. Haigh, R. (2010). Discussion paper: Developing a resilient built environment: Post-disaster reconstruction as a window of opportunity. Paper presented at the International Conference on Sustainable Built Environments (ICSBE-2010), Kandy. UNDP. (2013). Analysing the vulnerability of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises to natural hazards and their capacity to act as drivers of community recovery (pp. 1-77). Geneva: UNISDR.. Figure 4 Investment in built environment resilience can be made at any of the layers Figure 5 Research method Figure 3 Pictorial representation of the research aim “You can only improve if you know how you are doing”  Disaster type : Flood  Target: Small and Medium sized enterprises Figure 6 Summary of research concept Figure 1 Disasters and the built environment 4. Scope Nat. Hazard Disaster People and other assets Business disruption Job loss Reconstruction cost Asset damage Stock damage Others Built Environment International National Community/Local Authority Company/Organisation Figure 2 How threats that accompany flood events interact with properties Different threat types attack the elements of a property and its surroundings at different levels and stages during a disaster. Increased investment in the use of disaster resilience and resistance measures in the built environment can help minimize damage and loss. Note: Economic loss is dependent on the depth of impact/magnitude of loss of functionality and the time taken to recover. Enhancing investment in the disaster resilience of the built environment Construction Economics and Management Research Group: www.northumbria-qs.org Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering and Environment 5. Method 6. Summary of research concept 2. Aim of the study Supervisors: Prof. Srinath Perera and Prof. Andrew Collins Onaopepo Adeniyi, 2 nd Year; email: o.adeniyi@northumbria.ac.uk