Earlier this month, the London Assembly heard that more than a million homes in London may need significant upgrades to help curb the capital’s overheating crisis.
The 2022 heatwave saw record temperatures across the UK, with London hitting 40C that July. Throughout the year, there were 3,271 heat-related deaths in England, 387 of which were recorded in the capital.
Dan Bicknell, climate adaptation manager at the Greater London Authority (GLA), estimated that more than a million existing properties in London needed to be retrofitted for heat “in the sort of medium to long term”.
However, Bicknell admitted that there was a “huge funding gap” towards retrofit programmes in general.
Jules Pipe, the deputy mayor for planning, said City Hall was keen to prioritise passive cooling measures that include designing buildings so they do not overheat in the first place.
The GLA is due to publish its Heat Risk Delivery Plan this summer, a city-wide framework designed to manage extreme heat and overheating.
