How to Avoid Overheating Complaints

Developers are increasingly likely to receive overheating queries as climate change continues to cause temperatures to rise. This is particularly important for those with an ongoing interest in developments, such as landlords, or those involved in multi-phase developments, because:

• Overheating issues are appearing more often in mainstream media; the Met Office recently stated that 2022 was the warmest year on record; and
• Part O: Overheating now requires a chapter on overheating in Home User Guides, so residents are ever-more aware of the developer responsibility to mitigate overheating risk in their homes.

Building performance evaluation (BPE) can help to identify the causes of overheating and find a solution. Developers are encouraged to proactively engage with residents to obtain occupancy data and produce a realistic, as-built model of their development. This can then be used to target the most cost-effective mitigation measures.

Proactive collection of temperature data through the use of discrete temperature sensors can help to identify overheating risk ahead of time or can be used for confirmation of mitigation improvements. This helps to close the ‘performance gap’, providing confidence to residents that the modelled scenario matches reality.