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INDUSTRY VIEWFINDER
What drivers are pushing you to adopt climate-responsive strategies?
But the most alarming fact is that in 2022, the UK recorded its highest number of ‘heat related excess deaths,’ at 2,900 people, during periods when the temperature exceeded 40˚C. In 2020, around 2,000 additional deaths were attributed to heatwaves. These statistics are a stark reminder that indoor overheating is not just about comfort, but a genuine health and safety concern.
Surveying architects
By gathering a wide range of architectural insights, we aimed to chart the evolving approaches to thermal comfort and resilience in modern building design – thereby helping to identify best practices and highlight opportunities for innovation and improvement. While there were positive signs that architects were generally “actively considering ‘climate-responsive strategies’ that go beyond regulatory minimums” (three-quarters of our sample said they were), there were a range of other challenges in mitigating overheating. As a general concern, 77% believed that medium- or high-rise residential buildings designed to Part L 2021 were at risk of overheating. Volume housebuilding was not far behind at 68%, and education buildings were seen to be the third highest risk with 66% of respondents picking it. Care homes were then very close behind with 60% picking this category. These key sectors for not only comfort, but also safety and vulnerability of users, were seen to be high risks of a combination of tighter thermal performance, and increased solar heat hitting buildings. Our survey also looked at chosen solutions, and views as to their respective effi cacy.
Barriers to bringing in more passive design approaches were also explored, such as cost perceptions, added design complexity, user behaviour, solution longevity, and client resistance, as well as the relative ‘lack of regulation support’ of specifi c strategies, and a limited amount of data on building performance to validate such approaches.
Introduction
Climate change and the consequential higher summer temperatures and increasing number of extreme heatwaves is worsening the impact of Part L introducing better building performance standards, when it comes to solar gain and overheating. The Met Offi ce says the number of days exceeding 30˚C in the UK more than trebled between 2015 and 2024, compared with the 1961-1990 average. The current hottest temperature was recorded in July 2022 when it hit 40.3˚C – before 1990 the UK hadn’t reached 37˚C. In fact, Met Offi ce projections say temperatures in the mid-forties could be a serious possibility by 2050 if global warming continues at its current pace. It’s indisputable that the risk of indoor overheating has gone beyond a seasonal concern and become a year-round health and safety issue. This is particularly true for buildings used by some of society’s most vulnerable, such as care homes and student accommodation which, as well as all new build residential buildings, are covered by Part O. However, no such regulations apply to other buildings with vulnerable occupants such as schools and offi ces, where guidance on maximum temperatures is also vague, and clients and design teams must assess their own risks and responses.
While overheating in commercial buildings is not currently subject to regulatory requirements, Part F (Ventilation) has two volumes covering both domestic and non-domestic use. It requires all buildings to have adequate ventilation provisions – such as trickle vents – to provide continuous airfl ow and extract pollutants and excess moisture to prevent occupant health issues.
Working with Parts L, F & O Though Parts L, F and O are all worthy in their own regards – and obviously not intended to confl ict with one another – competing design pressures can be diffi cult to navigate. In particular, balancing
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ADF JULY/AUGUST 2026
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