Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Rt Hon MP, has called on the
Government to provide more clarity on its plans to meet
commitments on protecting UK buildings from heatwaves.
In a letter to Levelling Up
Secretary of State Rt Hon MP, the Chair asks the
Government to clarify how it plans to mitigate overheating in
refurbished buildings, after the Government's response to a recent
Committee report did not address this important concern
directly.
In its inquiry into Heat resilience and sustainable
cooling, the Committee heard that increasing levels of heat
are already having serious and widespread impacts on health,
wellbeing and economic productivity in the UK, costing thousands
of lives and billions of pounds each year.
Over 4.6 million English homes currently experience overheating
during summertime. If global temperatures warm by 2°C, this could
rise to 90% of all UK homes. In its report, published in
January 2024, the Committee had concluded that the social and
economic case for accelerating heat adaptation measures was
“clear-cut,” the Chair writes.
In December 2023, the Government signed up to the Global Cooling
Pledge, agreeing to include passive cooling and energy efficiency
measures in national building codes for both new and refurbished
buildings.
But while Part O of the UK's building regulations offers guidance
on mitigating overheating in new residential buildings, this does
not currently apply to refurbishments.
“We again urge the Government to clarity how it intends to meet
its Global Cooling Pledge commitment in respect of refurbished
buildings,” the Chair writes. “We support an extension to Part O
of Building Regulations to cover refurbishments as the most
effective and straightforward method of achieving this.”
The Chair also reiterates several of the Committee's
recommendations for increasing green spaces in urban areas, such
as parks, trees and green roofs. These can have significant
cooling effects – particularly in built-up areas – as well as
resulting in additional benefits for wellbeing, health, air
quality and biodiversity.
These recommendations include:
- Introducing a legal requirement to protect and enhance green
space;
- Requiring local authorities to use Natural England's Green
Infrastructure Framework, a tool that helps planners to design
nature-rich local areas, which is currently optional; and
- Incentivising the uptake of green roofs.
