BESA backs cooling for UK buildings

UK: The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) is calling for urgent action to tackle overheating in buildings, as the UK experiences rising temperatures and heat-related deaths.

The trade association is calling for cooling to become a central part of the UK’s push to decarbonise the built environment, which continues to focus primarily on how we heat buildings. It backs adding heat pumps that include cooling to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

With the UK set to record its warmest summer on record, BESA says the rising number of deaths linked to longer and more intense heatwaves makes this a serious building safety issue. Researchers from Imperial College London have estimated there were 263 excess deaths due to heat in the capital during June alone.

According to BESA’s technical director Kevin Morrissey, this year’s weather suggests a move into much longer and more relentless periods of heat stress. 

“This is significant because it suggests we are experiencing a new long-term weather pattern which calls for a more concerted effort to adapt our built environment,” he said.

BESA quotes research by environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE), which identified almost 5,000 neighbourhoods in England that now regularly suffer from heat stress. These areas cover about a third of the country and contain more than 1,000 hospitals, 10,000 children’s nurseries, and a similar number of care homes. FoE believes there could be more than 10,000 heat-related deaths annually in the UK by 2050.

“There are multiple technical solutions available, including both passive and mechanical cooling systems,” said Morrissey. “However, to ensure these reach the most vulnerable in our society cooling must now become a central part of the UK’s push to decarbonise the built environment, which continues to focus primarily on how we heat buildings.

“Adapting the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to support wider adoption of heat pumps that provide cooling in summer as well as heating would be a positive and easy first step.”

BESA also believes overheating should be part of the wider building safety regime. It pointed out that the addition of fire-resistant insulation was making many more homes at risk of overheating, so this needed to be offset by better ventilation and cooling.

“Overheating is the most overlooked building safety issue,” said Morrissey. “Improving insulation to reduce heat loss and protect occupants from fire is extremely important, but in many cases, this is exacerbating growing health problems caused by poor indoor air quality and condensation by raising temperature and humidity and reducing air change rates.”

With demand for residential air conditioning growing, BESA warns that it must be managed carefully to ensure installations met legal and technical standards.

“There is always a risk with any growth market that it attracts the wrong kind of commercial interest,” said Morrissey. “We are seeing a surge in demand for heat pumps and for domestic cooling systems, but these need to be properly designed and appropriate for each project.

“People need to be properly qualified and registered to handle refrigerant gas and to install cooling equipment. There is a cowboy element out there who could do untold damage to this industry and put both the environment and the public at risk of harm, if regulations are not properly enforced.

“The Building Safety Act is beginning to make its presence felt and is driving more responsible behaviour across the construction sector by focusing heavily on competence and compliance. The role of cooling needs to receive a similar level of scrutiny to ensure it can play its part in keeping building occupants safe and healthy.”