UK ‘Can Adapt Buildings to Warming with Shutters, Insulation and Green Roofs’

Sourced from The Independent

The UK can adapt its buildings to global warming by rolling out low technology measures like green roofs, external blinds and insulation as the country responds to rising temperatures, experts have said.

Record temperatures and heatwaves this summer have prompted warnings that Britain must proactively respond to the changing climate when it comes to its built environment.

Researchers from the University of Oxford published a study this week which found that the UK is one of the countries that will have to adapt the most radically to cool down buildings as climate change drives up the global average temperature.

The scientists warned of a “vicious cycle” developing whereby people burn more fossil fuels to provide energy for cooling which then heats the climate still further, requiring more energy.

But Oliver Neve, a structural engineer with a sustainability background at Ramboll, said low tech solutions, like external shutters or blinds, green roofs, lighter coloured exteriors, insulation and less paving over the surrounding area, can help to keep existing or older buildings cool and improve their climate resilience.

Mr Neve told the PA news agency: “There’s an awful lot of work that has to be done within the existing (UK building) stock to prepare us for these climate changes.

“So we absolutely have to be proactive in our approach rather than reactive because the cost is just going to be far too great in terms of the impacts to society and unfortunately to those with fragile health.”

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