Communicating threats of future climate change to building design practitioners

This paper describes a communication strategy aiming to bridge the gap between research and practice, by raising awareness of future overheating risks in buildings. It is the outcome of four years of intensive research to design a tool which can identify risk of overheating: the Low Carbon Futures (LCF) tool. A specific workshop, with a targeted audience, was held to understand better how the LCF tool can be adapted and used in industry. Participants included experienced private sector building design professionals, local authorities, housing associations, building services engineering consultancies, and members of corporate organisations. A recurring theme throughout the workshop was that the LCF tool is one that is useful to all sectors, and that further investigation should be made into expanding the use of the tool. The feedback gathered will be used to inform a number of output styles, based on client type.