Heat Stress: The Most Important Climate Risk for Property and the Workplace? 

As the last few weeks have shown with temperatures reaching all-time highs for this time of year, heat stress is a significant physical climate risk for homes, workplaces and public services.

In the UK we have tended to treat hot weather as a rare phenomenon, an exception rather than the norm. That assumption is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

The Climate Change Committee’s 2026 report, A Well-Adapted UK, makes it very clear that the UK is not adapting quickly enough to the physical risks of climate change and one of the most immediate of these is excessive heat.

Wide-ranging effects

Heat stress arises when the body cannot cool itself effectively. It is not simply a question of high temperature. It is affected by humidity, age and physical exertion, but also (because we spend so much time indoors) it is also impacted by building design and ventilation.

Heat stress can affect health, productivity and safety. In the most serious cases it can cause heat exhaustion, heat stroke and death. The risk is not confined to outdoor workplaces. It can arise in offices, warehouses, hospitals, care homes, schools, factories, transport systems and retail premises.  A poorly ventilated flat, an overheated care home or a warehouse without effective cooling may all become unsafe during periods of extreme heat.

The issue is particularly acute because much of the UK’s building stock was designed for a cooler climate with buildings were designed to retain heat, not to manage overheating. That made sense, historically, but it is now outmoded.

The CCC’s warning is therefore important. Heat stress is not a niche public health issue: it is a property issue, an employment issue and a business continuity issue for various stakeholders, including conveners.

- For homeowners and landlords, the question is whether buildings can be occupied safely and comfortably during hotter summers.

- For employers, the key question is whether working conditions remain safe during heat events.

- For developers, the question is whether new buildings are being designed for the climate they will actually experience over their lifetime.

- For investors and lenders, the key questions are whether heat risk will affect asset value, ability to let, insurability or future capital expenditure.

Heat stress is now a mainstream climate risk.  As the CCC report shows, it is one of the UK’s most significant physical climate risks and it merits particularly close attention. 

Impacts for your Client

Terra IQ has developed an innovative, rich dataset that provides environmental and property data providers greater insight into the localised impacts of heat stress. This enables their clients, whether law firms, developers, consultants, insurers or lenders, to better advise clients on potential asset value risks, retrofit costs or possible future health affects to a home or business premises.

To book a demo of the data in action, why not get in touch today?