Will building regulations changes do enough to change the fabric of future builds?

It’s been 3 months since building regulations changed to include solutions to mitigate overheating in buildings (just one of the new measures that were outlined). We know that 4.6 million homes overheat every year in the UK and with temperatures reaching 40 degrees centigrade this year, studies estimate this number could rise to 10 million homes.

While it will take some time to start to see Part O Building Regs come to fruition, we are already having thoughtful conversations with our clients about practical solutions that also have building emissions in mind. The industry is turning its attention to the fabric of a building rather than relying on air-conditioning to cool areas down, for example.

While this is a positive step forward for new buildings post-June 2023, that still leaves us with millions of existing buildings that will become inhospitable as temperatures soar every summer.

Our experience has been promising, speaking to landlords and commercial building facilitation about the benefits of Heat Pumps in particular to support retrofit/refurbishment of existing buildings to support building emissions and help keep temperatures down in the summer and warm in the winter.