BBSA backs Climate Change Committee’s A Well Adapted UK report
BBSA backs Climate Change Committee’s A Well Adapted UK
The BBSA strongly supports the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) new report which calls for a ‘passive measures first’ approach to cooling buildings.
The CCC has published its A Well Adapted UK report as part of its advice to the government under the Fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4).
It identifies overheating as a current and growing risk to the UK built environment, now recognised alongside flooding and energy security as one of the major climate resilience challenges facing the country.
The report states: ‘Active cooling measures, alongside low-cost passive measures, are more likely to be needed for retrofitting existing homes (which make up the majority of homes that will exist in 2050).’
It further explains that around 22% of the UK’s housing stock could require active cooling, such as air conditioning, by 2050 under a 2°c warming scenario.
However, the research underpinning the report demonstrates the vast majority of homes can significantly reduce overheating risk through passive measures before active cooling becomes necessary.
External solar shading is one of the most effective passive cooling solutions available because it stops solar heat gain before it reaches the glass and enters the building.
This is not new technology. Solar shading has been used for centuries in architecture designed for warmer climates. Yet, despite rising temperatures and increasingly frequent heatwaves, it remains significantly underutilised across the UK built environment.
The CCC also highlights that passive cooling should be prioritised in public buildings, with active cooling introduced only during prolonged or intense heatwaves, or within higher-risk environments. This reflects the cooling hierarchy adopted within the London Plan and increasingly referenced by local authorities and industry guidance.
The effectiveness of external shading is already well evidenced. BBSA research, cited by the CCC and referenced within the government’s Warm Homes Plan, has found external shading can reduce indoor operative temperatures by up to 18°c.
By preventing heat build-up at source, external shading can significantly reduce reliance on air conditioning, lowering energy demand, reducing carbon emissions and, in many applications, eliminating the need for mechanical cooling altogether when combined with other passive design strategies such as ventilation and thermal mass.
As temperatures rise, reducing heat gain before it enters buildings must become a fundamental principle of building design.
The BBSA sees the report as an important step forward in recognising overheating as a serious issue requiring urgent action. However, greater consistency is still needed across planning, building regulations and retrofit policy to ensure passive cooling measures, particularly external solar shading, become standard practice rather than an afterthought.
Lord Krebs, former chair of the CCC adaptation sub-committee, previously stated: “We are not designing buildings for preventing overheating. Shading – shutters or awnings – is not costly or difficult to install, it’s just that we’re not doing it.”
The BBSA urges policymakers, developers and the wider construction industry to build on the CCC’s recommendations by embedding external solar shading into the design of both new-build and existing buildings, helping create more resilient, comfortable and low-carbon environments fit for a warming climate.
