Project planning
NEC planning averages
Designed for users of the NEC, the NEC planning averages can be used to identify potential downtime periods and ensure projects are completed on time and to budget.
“We have been able to stand some operations down for a period of time and agree weather stops in advance due to the confidence that we, and more importantly, the client had in weather forecasts. This has saved considerable amounts of money.”
Birse Civils, M62 project
The NEC averages provide a summary of weather conditions including:
- monthly rainfall totals
- days with more than 5 mm rain
- days with air frost
- days with snow lying
Downtime averages
Downtime planning averages can be used to understand how best to allocate resources to manage project delivery.
They can also be for comparison against downtime summaries, to enable faster settlement of contracts and monitoring of project efficiency.
Long-term averages are available as separate reports by weather item, covering the entire year.
Examples:
Degree day reports
Degree day reports measure and report on variations in outside temperatures. They are available for 18 regions across the UK, compiled monthly and are normally published within five working days of the end of the month.
They can help building designers:
- Relate a building’s energy consumption to the weather.
- Monitor energy saving measures and to plan and use buildings more effectively.
- Plan heating systems for buildings.
The base temperature used is 15.5 °C and four sets of figures are provided for each region:
- Actual value for the month
- Monthly mean value
- The relationship between the actual figure and mean value, expressed as a percentage
- Values for the corresponding month in the previous year
For more information please email construction@metoffice.gov.uk or call our 24-hour Customer Centre.
