Building Climate‑Resilient Homes: International Insights for the UK

Building for a sustainable and resilient future: international lessons for UK homes

Across much of the world, though not historically in the UK, homes have long been designed to withstand climate extremes. To explore what the UK can learn from these markets, we convened an international panel to examine the implications for investors, developers and operators responsible for delivering homes that must perform for decades to come. From urban heat mapping in Dutch and Danish cities to dual-climate design in Spain, the discussion highlights practical insights for building resilience into future housing.

Dan Asquith of BRE hosted the discussion. He was joined by Kartik Amrania, Head of Building Sustainability Team UK at Sweco, Elisabetta Li Destri Nicosia, Managing Director, Sustainability and ESG at Amro Partners, and Jennifer Dudley, Lead Product Manager, BREEAM Residential at BRE. The audience left little doubt about why the subject matters. Polled live, 79% said the UK built environment is not prepared for the climate changes ahead. And when asked to name the main advantage of resilient design, 70% chose all of them: climate adaptation, fewer retrofits and the financial benefits that follow.

Watch the full webinar

Dan Asquith

Business Development Team Leader, Buildings and Infrastructure, BRE

"There is no denying that the world is changing. Climate risk projections are not theoretical, they are affecting us now. In 2022 the UK recorded its first 40°C summer, with around 3,000 excess deaths linked to that heat, while cold homes still cost the NHS over £1 billion every year. Physical climate risk is now shaping how investors, lenders and insurers assess residential portfolios. I am working with lenders right now who actively incentivise BREEAM, reducing their fees where credentials are proven through certification.

Other countries have been designing for climate extremes for decades, and the question we set out to answer was a simple one: what works elsewhere, and what can the UK take from it? For anyone weighing the cost of going beyond regulation, the better question is: what is the cost of not doing it?”

Kartik Amrania

Head of Building Sustainability Team UK, Sweco

“When it comes to heat, the risk is simply not perceived, because it is not visual, and the extreme threat of heat is largely underestimated. Extreme heat is increasing in intensity, frequency and duration, and what we are seeing now is the tip of the iceberg: worst-case projections suggest 72% of European cities could see maximum temperatures increase by as much as 10°C by 2100. By 2050, London is looking at average temperatures around six degrees higher, closer to Barcelona. But London is not Barcelona: it is nowhere close to being prepared for that sort of heat.

The first thing we need is data. Dutch municipalities publish heat maps that let designers and policymakers set site-specific requirements, and our mapping for the municipality of Odense, in Denmark, has helped the city plan around its most vulnerable residents. That urban heat island data is exactly what UK cities lack, and it is the area we are trying to champion.”

How to build heatwave resilience: a study of European cities’ preparedness

Building resilience: being young and getting old in a hotter Europe

Elisabetta Li Destri Nicosia

Managing Director, Sustainability and ESG, Amro Partners

“As investors, developers and operators in the living sector, we have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to use the design stage to prepare assets not only for today’s climate, but for tomorrow’s. Even before looking at cooling, ventilation and mechanical systems, we ask what the building itself can do: through its façade, shading devices, orientation and overall performance. This holistic approach to current and future climate conditions is something we developed through our work in Spain and brought to The Rex [a co-living development] in Kingston.

“For institutional investors, this is increasingly central to long-term underwriting. Recent work from INREV [the European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles] highlights physical climate risk and building certification as key environmental factors in investment decision-making. BREEAM remains our standard tool, and we target BREEAM Outstanding across all our projects.

“Forward-thinking investors do not see this simply as a cost. They see it as a way to manage risk, protect long-term value and create better, more resilient assets.”

Jennifer Dudley

Lead Product Manager, BREEAM Residential, BRE

“BREEAM has been operating in the UK residential market in one form or another for over 30 years, and it has been looking at aspects of resilience since it began in the 1980s. Our benchmark is simple: recognition begins where regulation stops. The homes we are building today will, we hope, still be here in 2085, so we ask what the world looks like then. BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential assesses performance beyond the regulatory minimum on the issues that decide whether a home copes with the decades ahead: flood risk, the management of rainfall, security, temperature, durability, and access and space. And increasingly we are seeing certification used not only as a differentiator, but to attract green investment, because the world of finance is interested in how an asset performs not just now, but into the future.”

Browse more from our latest news