As climate change intensifies, the UK’s environment and buildings face mounting risks. Kirsty Girvan of the UK Green Building Council outlines why urgent, systemic action is needed to adapt to the changes being seen.
The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat. The UK is experiencing more frequent and intense storms, floods, droughts, wildfires, and heatwaves. These hazards are reshaping our environment, economy and daily lives. Without urgent and coordinated action, the impacts will worsen, putting lives, livelihoods and long-term prosperity at risk.
The UK is warming at a faster rate than the global average. All of the top 10 warmest years on record have occurred this century, and with global emissions yet to peak, temperatures are projected to continue rising for decades.
In the UK, this will mean a range of challenging impacts. Firstly, hotter, drier summers: The Climate Change Committee forecasts that by 2050, the average summer will be 1.6°C warmer than 1981-2000 levels. The hottest summers from recent years will become the norm, and reduced rainfall will raise the risk of drought and strain water systems.
Secondly, warmer, wetter winters: The World Weather Attribution organisation’s modelling expects heavier winter rainfall and more wet days, increasing flood risks from overwhelmed rivers and surface water. According to the Met Office, between 1961-1990 and 2014-2023, the number of ‘hot days’ above 28°C has more than doubled, and ‘very hot days’ above 30°C have more than tripled.
These ongoing trends demand a national, long term response grounded in data, funding, and coordinated strategy. Resilience cannot be delivered in siloes. It must be systemic and cross-sectoral, addressing hazards like overheating or flooding requires looking after both the structural vulnerabilities of buildings as well as their users and communities.
Impact of climate risks
Climate change is already putting unprecedented pressure on homes, infrastructure, and public services. Overheating is rising: the English Housing Survey shows that households reporting part of their home as “uncomfortably hot” increased from 11% in 2022 to 13% in 2023. Even under the current climate, more than half of UK homes are vulnerable to overheating.
The damage to building assets from floods results in heavy financial losses. The Association of British Insurers showed that in 2023, weather related insurance claims were the highest on record, up 36% in 2022, and of the £573m paid out to homeowners for weather related damage, half of this was due to flooding.
As UKGBC’s ‘The UK Climate Resilience Roadmap’ and repeated reports from The Climate Change Committee make clear, adapting our building stock must be a top priority. Decisions made today will define the resilience of the built environment for decades. By embedding climate resilience into our built environment, we can safeguard people, reduce long term costs, and lead the economy towards a more secure future.
New homes are not ready
To ensure climate readiness becomes standard practice instead of an afterthought, we must integrate resilience across all stages of building design, construction, and operation. This needs to start with a shift to designing for the climate we’re entering, not the one we’re leaving behind. New homes must use less water, cope with extreme heat, and withstand floods. Yet many new developments continue to fall short.
The draft 2025 Future Homes and Buildings Standard (FHBS), consulted on by the previous government, does too little to address water scarcity, flood risk, wind or wildfire exposure, and makes only modest improvements on overheating through minimal strengthening of Part O of the Building Regulations. The standard as it is will leave homes vulnerable to risks, costly to retrofit, and potentially harmful to occupant health. It is also likely that this will further stress water systems, degrade freshwater and other ecosystems, and put the UK under further wildfire risk.
The Building Safety Regulator can propose amendments to Building Regulations and guidance, including climate resilience measures. This is a good first step, but gaps remain in the enforcement and monitoring of adaptation across both residential and non residential buildings.
Despite growing awareness, the built environment sector lacks the unified direction and shared accountability needed for urgent progress. With too few developments actively considering climate risks, what is needed now is clearer goals, coordinated action, and robust regulation to protect against the full spectrum of hazards. This is what the UK Climate Resilience Roadmap aims to deliver.
Reforming building regulations
The UK needs a more ambitious and coordinated approach to regulation, planning and delivery of adaptation.
This means updating Building Regulations to embed climate resilience as a core principle of development, protecting against overheating, flooding and
water scarcity.
The Government should commit to a strengthened standard, with comprehensive updates to current regulation, including:
- Part O (overheating) should be expanded to include future climate data and extend coverage to existing homes undergoing refurbishment or conversion.
- Part G (water efficiency) moving to a ‘fittings-based’ approach, backed by mandatory water labels linked to minimum performance standards, with a national target of 95 litres per person per day.
- Part C (flood resilience) should require all properties at risk of flooding to include resilience measures, prioritising nature-based solutions and aligned with the CIRIA Code of Practice for property flood resilience.
- In the long term, rainwater harvesting should be mandated with reuse systems required for large developments, modelled on San Francisco’s planning requirement for water budget calculations, which helps address both water scarcity and surface water flooding risks.
- Alongside regulatory reform, a long-term, cross-sector strategy is needed to coordinate adaptation. This must span national and local government, infrastructure providers, developers, insurers, and communities. Public awareness, green skills, and professional training are also essential; a new generation must be equipped to deliver buildings that are not just low carbon, but also climate resilient.
UKGBC’s Climate Resilience Roadmap provides a systemic, action oriented framework for the sector, promoting integrated responses and translating
risk assessments into practical, place based interventions.
A futureproofed built environment
Building to higher standards today avoids the greater cost of retrofitting and rebuilding tomorrow. This is not just about avoiding climate damage; it is an opportunity to create healthier, more efficient, safer, and future ready places.
The built environment sector has a vital role to play alongside the comprehensive regulations required to make this happen. By putting climate resilience at the heart of planning, design, and delivery, we can lead the transition to a safer, more sustainable future. We must anticipate the climate risks ahead and start building to withstand them.
The final takeaway for housebuilders and wider society to take account of is that there is no climate resilience without a resilient built environment.
Kirsty Girvan is senior policy advisor at the UK Green Building Council