A clear ventilation strategy should be adopted to allow buildings to be adapted for climate change.
It is likely that due to climate change more existing buildings will suffer from overheating.
Overheating can cause health and mortality issues as well as considerable discomfort to building users and occupants.
One response to overheating is to install air conditioning but this can have costs associated with associated energy consumption, waste, heat, noise and increased carbon emissions.
Improving natural ventilation is probably the most cost effective way to deal with overheating.
However efficient natural ventilation depends largely on how responsive a building is to changing conditions both indoors and out.
Even in otherwise well designed buildings, an inappropriate reaction can cause major operational problems.
This may mean levels of comfort and energy consumption are unsatisfactory.