Polly Turton, Head of Climate Action and Public Health at Shade the UK.

Futurebuild is taking place from 4 – 6 March at the Excel, London, a venue fittingly close to two vital assets for climate adaptation and resilience in London: City Hall and the Thames Barrier. As one of the largest and longest-running conferences for sustainable innovation in the built and natural environment, the three-day agenda is unsurprisingly packed with experts (still) discussing how we can solve the interconnected challenges of sustainable development, climate, carbon, and retrofit – in London, the UK, and globally.

Day three of the conference is all about ‘Making it happen’ which is undoubtedly what we all need to be doing, and what we are all about at Shade the UK. I like to think this was why I was invited to contribute to an Edge-curated panel event entitled ‘Looking back, looking forward – are we doing enough?’. Chaired by Smith Mordak, Chief Executive of UKGBC, my fellow panel members and I will be rolling up our sleeves and discussing whether the UK government and the UK construction industry are doing enough, quickly enough, to meet the UK’s sustainable development, energy, nature, climate, carbon, and retrofit priorities. In other words, is the UK being the change it wants to see?

The focus of my contribution to the discussion will be on the climate adaptation and resilience challenges we face in the UK’s built and natural environment. More specifically, how we respond to the already-experienced impacts and the growing risks of hot weather nationally, as the climate heats up globally, somewhat inevitably, due to lack of effective action on the energy and carbon challenges.

So, perhaps the answer before we even get stuck in is simply ‘no’. We are not doing enough.

From the record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires we experienced in summer 2022 to the devastating floods we saw this winter, the UK is already seeing the impacts of not acting on climate change. Continuing to focus on actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions is of course essential, but it is not happening fast enough.

Therefore, in the meantime and in parallel, we need to re-focus our actions on adapting our thinking, environments, behaviours, and actions to the new climate normal, to ensure we are more resilient to its consequences. The complexities of climate change (which are real and many) should not distract us from the simplicity and availability of practical solutions, or we risk a kind of collective national inertia.

For example, shade is one of the most effective and efficient solutions for hot weather in the UK – in new developments, on existing buildings, within internal spaces, or in external spaces. Shade can take many forms: from natural shade (e.g. trees, shrubs, and climbing plants), to structural shade (e.g. blinds, shutters, awnings, and canopies) or hybrid shade (e.g. pergolas, trellises, and green walls). Depending on the form, and the location, shade has many benefits in addition to thermal comfort and safety during hot weather. These include reduced cooling energy demand for buildings (and associated carbon emissions), increased biodiversity in the private and public realm, reduced surface water runoff when it rains, and reducing the need for watering when it doesn’t.

So, perhaps the answer to the title of our panel discussion is ‘no, but you can make some seriously positive progress with shade’.
If you are interested in getting inspired to take action rather than feel dejected about the lack of action, join us on Thursday 6 March, at 2:45pm in the Futurebuild Arena at London Excel.

Notes to editor

Shade the UK is a Community Interest Company (CIC) based in London. We work collaboratively to adapt the built environment and public spaces to protect vulnerable people against a changing climate. The starting point for our Theory of Change is that we have a growing yet avoidable problem with hot weather in the UK. We plan to solve this problem in three main ways: raising awareness, securing funding for practical projects, and influencing policy and legislation. The outcome we seek to achieve is zero deaths from overheating in the UK, and protecting the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people.