Experts to address buildings overheating in World Ventilation Day debate
With global temperatures surging to unprecedented heights, this year’s World Ventilation Day is a critical and timely opportunity to analyse overheating in the built environment, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).
BESA said that while demand for air conditioning is soaring globally, a range of industry bodies and experts will use the day’s events as a platform to explore how other solutions like ventilative and evaporative cooling, passive design, and intelligent ventilation strategies can play their part in addressing overheating, as well as reducing energy consumption, and harmful emissions.
BESA is hosting a World Ventil8 Day ‘Exchange’ at the Building Centre, London on Thursday, 5 November – as this year the traditional 8 November date falls on a Sunday. Registration is now open via the BESA website.
The event promises to bring together expert insights and real-world case studies that demonstrate how smarter design can improve occupant comfort, reduce energy consumption, and deliver more climate-resilient buildings.
The 2026 event will mark the fifth staging of an international awareness campaign which was created to promote the role of building ventilation in supporting health, well-being, and productivity. It was founded by a coalition of scientists, academics, engineering bodies and environmental activists.
One of the key speakers will be Lisa Malyon, founder of the Mums Versus Mould campaign and the UK Centre for Mould Safety, who will lead a discussion about how the industry can help find wider and longer-lasting solutions. Lisa will also be a panellist on our Healthy Homes in Operation session at elementalLONDON on 25-26 November.
The agenda will also feature practical insights from across the UK industry with contributions from engineers, contractors, consultants, housing professionals, policy makers and industry leaders.
Topics include Smart Ventilation and Emerging Technology which will focus on the use of AI tools to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and carry out tasks like continuous monitoring and ventilation performance assessment. There will be a series of short sharp ‘Pecha Kucha’ sessions covering industry standards and guides including: DW145, TR19, and DW154, and a detailed look at the whole life cost of improving ventilation and how to build a business case for retrofitting systems in buildings.
Adam Taylor, chair of BESA’s Indoor Air Quality group, said:
This year’s heatwaves prompted a sudden surge in demand for retrofit air conditioning, but the risk is that we go from living in airtight boxes to airtight boxes with cooling. There are lots of low energy solutions that should be adopted before we resort to mechanical cooling systems and we will be looking at these in detail at this year’s World Ventil8 Day Exchange”.
Adam added:
This event is now a tried and tested forum for sharing practical insights, exploring the latest thinking, and enabling engineers, contractors, consultants, housing professionals, policy makers and industry leaders to connect and share knowledge, expertise and frustrations.”
