About the event

As climate change accelerates and modern construction trends favour airtight, highly glazed designs, the risk of overheating in UK homes is rising sharply. This session will explore why overheating has become a major concern for health, comfort, and building performance – highlighting its links to heat stress, sleep disruption, and even excess deaths. We’ll look at how building characteristics such as thermal mass, ventilation strategies, orientation, and glazing contribute to overheating risk, and why certain typologies – such as high-rise and urban buildings – are particularly vulnerable. 

Attendees will gain a clear understanding of current regulatory requirements, particularly Part O of the Building Regulations. The session will explain the two main compliance routes (simplified method and dynamic thermal modelling) alongside when and why to use each. Key modelling standards such as CIBSE TM59 will be introduced, providing practical insight into how overheating is assessed at design stage and how compliance can impact design choices. 

The talk will then turn to mitigation strategies, exploring both passive and active solutions through the lens of the Cooling Hierarchy. We’ll examine how to reduce solar gains and improve ventilation – starting with design-led measures such as orientation, glazing ratios, and window openings, through to mechanical options like MVHR and MEV systems. Considerations such as night-time cooling, external noise, pollution, and security will also be addressed. 

Finally, the session will highlight how overheating solutions can be incorporated into existing building upgrades, from retrofit works to façade improvements. By understanding how to assess, design for, and mitigate overheating risk, attendees will leave with a practical framework for making homes and buildings more resilient, comfortable, and fit for the future.

About the speaker

Jack Allen, Managing Director, Building Energy Experts 

Jack Allen brings over 14 years of experience in sustainability across the built environment. He has worked at every stage of the building lifecycle – from planning and energy modelling through to post-completion testing, certification, and retrofit delivery. Jack founded Building Energy Experts to bridge the performance gap between theoretical energy models and real-world building performance. By combining desk-based consultancy with hands-on testing, they help clients achieve measurable outcomes in carbon reductions and energy efficiency across new build and retrofit projects in both commercial and domestic settings.