UEL expert joins London Assembly debate on overheating
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Published
19 March 2026
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How prepared are London’s homes for the next heatwave? It’s a question moving rapidly up the policy agenda - and one that brought together leading voices at City Hall, where Dr Mehri Khosravi from the University of East London (UEL) joined an expert panel to help shape the conversation.
Dr Khosravi, Senior Research Fellow at UEL’s world-leading Sustainable Research Institute, contributed to a panel of the London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee examining whether London’s homes are equipped to cope with rising temperatures and more frequent extreme heat events. The discussion formed part of wider scrutiny around London’s Heat Risk Delivery Plan and how it must evolve to address the growing risks of urban overheating.
The session brought together experts in climate, housing and public health to explore how the capital can better prepare its housing stock for a warming future. Dr Khosravi contributed evidence from her research into urban overheating, including findings that around 80% of UK homes report overheating during summer months.
Her contribution highlighted the need for systemic adaptation across three levels:
- Urban-scale measures such as green infrastructure to reduce the urban heat island effect
- Building-level adaptations, including passive design and retrofit
- Behavioural adaptation through effective heat risk communication and public preparedness
Dr Khosravi’s research focuses on climate resilience in cities and how buildings and communities adapt to rising temperatures. Her work, including recently published studies on overheating risk and mitigation, is helping inform how policymakers approach housing design, and public health responses.
During the session, she emphasised that addressing overheating is not solely a technical challenge but also a societal one - requiring clearer communication of heat risks and support for behavioural adaptation, particularly for vulnerable groups such as older population.
Dr Khosravi said,
Overheating is not only a building design challenge that can be addressed through retrofit - it’s also about how we communicate heat risks and support people to adapt their behaviour. While improving buildings is essential for long-term resilience, better communication is immediate, and can help people take protective action now, particularly those most vulnerable to extreme heat.”
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Image: Alev Takil on Unsplash