UEL leads policy action to protect homes from heat
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Published
10 October 2025
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A new report and policy briefing led by the University of East London (UEL) in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), warns that the UK’s housing system is unprepared for extreme heat and calls for urgent regulatory reform.
According to research from UEL, 80 per cent of UK households now report overheating during summer months. With UK summers getting hotter year on year, Heat Adaptation in the UK, published this week by the CIH and co-authored by UEL’s Dr Mehri Khosravi, sets out vital action needed to protect residents and vulnerable groups.
Fragmented building regulations, weak enforcement, and minimal consideration of future climate scenarios are just some of the findings, leaving residents exposed to dangerous overheating.
Older people, renters, and those in care homes and institutional settings face the greatest risks, while frontline staff are often expected to work in unsafe conditions with little protection.
The report calls for reforms to strengthen building regulations, future-proof homes against climate projections, and provide finance for heat adaptations. It also recommends better training for NHS and care staff, improved local guidance on heat risk, and targeted outreach to households with the least ability to adapt.
Dr Khosravi, who is part of UEL’s internationally recognised Sustainability Research Institute (SRI), said,
The UK is still treating extreme heat as exceptional, when in reality overheating is now the norm. Without urgent reform of building regulations, improving heat risk communications, better protection for frontline workers and clear, practical advice for households, we will continue to see avoidable illness and death during hot summers.”
Matthew Scott, policy manager at the Chartered Institute of Housing and co-author of the brief, added,
“A safe, comfortable home is the foundation for good health and wellbeing. As our world warms, we urgently need to adapt our homes to make them more resilient to the health risks posed by extreme heat.
“This new report and briefing, the latest output from an ongoing partnership between CIH and UEL, sets out some of the steps that policymakers should consider when designing heat adaptation policy. It particularly stresses the need to strengthen, not relax, building standards, and communicate the risks of extreme heat more intently to householders across the UK.”
Heat Adaptation in the UK builds on the outcomes of a Westminster roundtable co-hosted by UEL and CIH in July 2025, which brought together housing providers, government representatives, health agencies and academics to examine how the UK can respond to the mounting risks of extreme heat.
Alan Chandler, UEL Research Impact Leader and SRI Affiliate, said,
“This research shows UEL is helping to shape the national conversation on climate resilience. Our collaboration with CIH demonstrates the value of universities and professional bodies working together to influence national policy and protect communities.”
The full policy brief is available via the Chartered Institute of Housing website.