Retrofitting our homes to reduce heat loss in winter is increasing the risk of summertime overheating: true or false?

With the industry’s focus currently on retrofitting our homes to reduce heat loss in winter, are we increasing the risk of summertime overheating?

Whether you’re a designer, developer, housing manager or social and health care professional, you need to know the facts so, for those who missed attending our tackling overheating in homes workshop last month a recording is now available so you can now catch up.  We heard from ARUP about their urban heat risk research which has highlighted the risks of overheating where physical factors coincide with building forms conducive to risk and vulnerable people. The latest evidence review reports from the Zero Carbon Hub’s overheating project were introduced, and demonstrate that there is still a need for the industry to find consensus on how we design, operate and occupy our homes to avoid summertime overheating.  Our final presentation focused on thermal modelling of dwellings in South Wales and assessed how planting can help with shading and natural ventilation strategies.

You can watch a recording of our workshop here, alternatively presentations slides can be accessed here.