Performance of UK dwellings in projected future climates

Projected increases in temperature due to the changing climate are likely to exacerbate overheating in buildings, especially in UK domestic buildings that are designed for the existing temperate climate. Due to the long life span of buildings, over two-thirds of dwellings in 2050 are projected to be the buildings built before 2000. Adaptability of the existing buildings to future climates, therefore, needs to be assessed to see if they will remain comfortable without resorting to mechanical cooling. This research evaluated occupant thermal comfort in a semi-detached UK residential building with different strategies of window openings under weather scenarios at different time scales: present-day, 2030s, 2050s and 2080s, using dynamic thermal simulation in five UK cities: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast. Standard EN 15251 was used to analyse the free-running building to investigate the effect of various window opening schedules on overheated hours. The findings highlighted that opening windows for longer time would reduce uncomfortable hours above the threshold operative temperature. However, the strategy on its own was not enough to maintain thermal comfort at all occupied hours in 2050s. Further adaptive measures, especially a combination of passive strategies including envelope refurbishment, need to be investigated for optimal adaptation