This report published by the Climate Change Committee in July 2022, outlines the serious threat to our health and wellbeing from periods of high temperatures, which will become more frequent and intense over time.
Overheating can cause heat stress whereby the body’s means of controlling its internal temperatures begins to fail and impacts productivity at work and at school.
“Overheating can affect the productivity of workers and the educational attainment of students, both directly impacting productivity through discomfort and heat stress in the workplace or educational facilities, and indirectly through sleep disruption associated with domestic overheating”
Part O of the building regulations that came into effect in June 2022, enforces solar shading to mitigate overheating on new residential properties. However, this report recommends that this measure is extended to include retrofits and conversions of non-domestic buildings to residential properties. In addition, there should be monitoring of internal temperatures in schools, hospitals, and care homes to understand the health risk across the UK building stock. Read the full report here.