Met Office serves up climate change-ready housing

The Met Office puts the focus on how climate change will affect the future of housing design at its exhibit at Grand Designs Live, which opens Saturday in London.

In coming decades, new houses will not only need smaller carbon footprints than today’s, but will also need to stand up to extreme summer heat, increased risk of damaging storms and higher odds of summer and winter flooding.

The Met Office’s exhibit will also feature a TV studio forecasting just how much climate change will affect the UK’s weather in the future due to our actions today. Met Office climate scientists will also be on hand to advise visitors on what changes they can make to adapt and mitigate for climate change.

“We are already committed to some warming here in the UK so it’s very important to start building new homes with climate change in mind,” said Mark McCarthy, urban climate specialist. “We need to design homes that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming, and that are future-proofed to be comfortable places to live, both now and in the future.”