Extreme heat is no longer a future climate scenario. Following the UK's hottest summer on record, the question for property owners, developers, investors and occupiers is not whether heat will affect real estate assets, but how prepared those assets are to withstand it.
The summer of 2026 has provided a stark reminder of how quickly climate-related risks can become operational and financial realities. According to the Met Office, summer 2026 was provisionally the warmest UK summer since records began in 1884, with an average temperature of 16.5°C and temperatures exceeding 35°C in multiple months. The Met Office has also concluded that the summer's record-breaking temperatures were made around 130 times more likely by human-induced climate change.
For the built environment sector, these figures are more than interesting statistics. They raise important questions about resilience, asset value, occupier wellbeing and long-term investment risk.
We need to talk about heat
Historically, climate resilience discussions in the UK property sector have often focused on flooding. While flood risk remains a critical issue, extreme heat presents a different challenge. Unlike flood events, which may occur sporadically and affect specific locations, heatwaves can impact entire regions simultaneously and for prolonged periods.
The consequences are increasingly visible. Transport infrastructure has experienced disruption from overheating rail lines and road surfaces. Water resources have come under pressure during periods of drought. Hospitals, schools and workplaces have faced operational challenges, while occupiers have experienced reduced productivity and increasing health risks during periods of sustained high temperatures.
For many existing buildings, particularly those designed to retain heat rather than dissipate it, overheating is becoming a significant concern.
What does heat risk look like in real estate?
Unlike flooding, overheating risk is often less visible during a standard property inspection. A building may perform perfectly adequately during cooler months while becoming uncomfortable, expensive to operate or even unusable during extreme temperatures.
Key risks can include:
Higher cooling and operational costs.
Reduced occupier comfort and productivity and ultimately, tenants refusing to pay rent for unusable premises.
Pressure on water resources and green infrastructure.
Disruption to building operations.
Impacts on asset value, marketability and insurability.
Buildings designed to modern sustainability standards are not automatically protected. Measures intended to improve energy efficiency can sometimes increase overheating risk if they are not accompanied by appropriate ventilation, shading and cooling strategies.
As temperatures continue to rise, investors and occupiers are becoming increasingly aware of these issues when assessing property performance.
Is your due diligence asking the right questions?
The experience of flooding over recent years has already demonstrated how climate-related risks can affect value, insurability and operational viability. Heat resilience deserves similar scrutiny.
Traditional due diligence may focus on energy performance credentials and flood risk. Increasingly, however, stakeholders should also consider how an asset will perform during prolonged periods of heat stress.
Questions may include:
Has the risk of overheating been properly assessed?
How reliant is the building on mechanical cooling, and are effective passive cooling measures in place?
Are critical building systems resilient to prolonged periods of extreme heat?
Are external spaces, landscaping and biodiversity features designed for hotter, drier conditions?
Could future climate impacts require significant refurbishment or adaptation works?
These considerations may become increasingly relevant in acquisitions, funding arrangements, development projects and asset management strategies.
Designing for a hotter future
The challenge is not simply how existing buildings cope with warmer summers. Developers and investors must also consider whether today's projects will remain fit for purpose in 20, 30 or 50 years' time.
Climate projections consistently indicate hotter summers across the UK. What is currently regarded as exceptional may become increasingly commonplace. In fact, 2026 may be the coolest summer we’ll experience going forward.
Design responses are therefore becoming more sophisticated. Measures such as external shading, improved ventilation, green infrastructure, urban greening, SuDS features, tree planting, heat-reflective materials and nature-based cooling solutions are increasingly viewed as resilience measures rather than optional sustainability enhancements. Advances in building technology are also playing a role, with AI-enabled building management systems helping to optimise cooling, ventilation and energy use in response to changing conditions.
There is also growing recognition that climate adaptation and climate mitigation must work together. A building that reduces carbon emissions but becomes uninhabitable during heatwaves cannot truly be regarded as resilient.
The next phase of climate resilience
As climate change continues to reshape the physical environment, the real estate sector faces an important transition. Understanding and managing climate risk can no longer be limited to flood maps, insurance schedules and historical weather data.
Extreme heat is becoming a material consideration for asset owners, occupiers, lenders and investors. The record-breaking summer of 2026 demonstrated how quickly climate risks can translate into operational and financial challenges.
As a result, climate resilience is becoming a broader consideration for the real estate sector. Alongside flooding and water stress, stakeholders must increasingly consider how buildings will perform during periods of prolonged and extreme heat.
For more information, please contact Abigail Gisbourne or a member of our built environment team.
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