The Impact of Climate Change on Building Energy Performance and Thermal Comfort: The Case Study of a Mixed Use Building in London

In the context of climate change threats, sustainability and climate resilience efforts, this research has the aim to evaluate the feasibility of achieving climate resilience targets within the building sector by 2050. A significant challenge arises from the frequently discrepancy between the performance of buildings during the design phase and the practical results observed in real-use conditions, which are influenced by the changing climate. For this reason, the research approach goes beyond conventional retrofitting strategies, focusing instead on assessing a building's potential to respond to climate change, even in regions historically unaffected by high cooling demands. A mixed-use building (residential and offices) in London serves as a case study, analysing energy behaviour, overheating risks, and carbon emissions within probabilistic scenarios for 2050s and 2080s. It explores the possibility of achieving a climate resilience behaviour under different future weather data and various adaptation strategies. To conduct this analysis, the research employs a dynamic simulation approach using Design Builder software and uses a real consumption data from 2022 to calibrate the building's baseline performance. Key areas of examination include energy demand, carbon emissions, overheating risk assessment, evaluation of the simulation model's accuracy, choice of future climate scenarios, and identification of effective adaptation strategies. The study ultimately offers valuable insights and recommendations for supporting building climate resilience, while taking into account the associated feasibility.