Overview

• The draft Future Homes Standard consultation focuses on winter heat retention, omitting protections against summer overheating in new homes.
• Ministers are exploring subsidies for air-to-air heat pumps under the boiler upgrade scheme to cool existing homes.
• Part O of the UK building regulations, introduced in June 2022, mandates overheating risk reduction only for new houses, excluding older properties.
• No large-scale retrofit plan has been announced to shield the majority of the UK’s existing housing stock from rising indoor temperatures.
• Climate projections and studies warn that UK temperatures have already topped 40°C, making a third of homes susceptible to overheating and placing low-income, minority and family households at particular risk.