Following the relaxation of planning legislation in March this year, to allow commercial buildings to be converted into new homes more easily, Zurich UK has warned that conversions need to be done properly and a surge in poorly converted offices could create homes unfit for future climate conditions.

While 2024’s summer may have felt brief and fleeting, temperatures across Europe have reached sweltering sustained temperatures – continuing a pattern of higher maximum temperatures and longer warm spells in recent years. And this wasn’t a fluke, with 2022 and 2023 recorded as the first and second warmest years on record respectively, with the top ten warmest years since 1884 all occurring after 2002.

Government planning data shows applications to convert commercial offices into residential units in England increased from 1,025 in 2022 to 1,235 in 2023 - a jump of 20%. This follows a previous 20% applications boost between 2020 and 2021, as developers snapped up pandemic-vacated workplaces. Residential conversion applications include those from use class E - commercial, business and services - and includes offices, banks, restaurants and shops.

After announcing the intention to build 1.5m new homes over the next few years, adding to the UK’s housing stock is clearly a priority for the Government. However, while converting unused and underutilised building into housing stock has merits there are concerns that poorly designed and built conversions, which lack appropriate ventilation, cooling systems and external shading, could create swathes of homes which are vulnerable to more frequent heatwaves and hotter UK summers. With many commercial buildings located in heavily built-up concrete areas they are also more exposed to the ‘urban heat island’ effect, where temperatures are hotter and flash floods from heavy downpours are a higher risk.