CIBSE Climate Adaptation and Resilience Conference 2026

Speakers: 

• Dr Julie Godefroy, Head of Net Zero - CIBSE
• Philippa Birch-Wood, Head of Climate Action, UKGBC
• Tim Munday, Lead Environmental Resilience Officer - City of London

This session will explore the strategic vision, policies, and practical actions needed to accelerate climate adaptation across the built environment. Drawing on industry strategies and future-thinking approaches, speakers will discuss how resilience can be embedded across the sector through leadership, standards, and collaboration.

Speakers:

• Chair: Dr Bahareh Salehi, Associate Vice Chair - CIBSE Resilient Cities Group
• Abishek Tiwary, Associate Professor - De Montfort University
• Chris Medland, Director - One-world design architects
• Herman Calleja, Sustainability Lead - SOM London
• Professor Darren Woolf, Head of Building Physics - Wirth Research

Hosted by the Resilient Cities Group, this session will explore practical approaches to understanding and assessing climate risk, including the tools, frameworks, and methodologies that support resilience planning. Speakers will discuss how adaptation can be integrated into building design and operation, the importance of cross-sector collaboration, and how resilient solutions can be scaled across different building types and supported through consistent standards and guidance.

Speakers:

• Chair: Dimple Rana, Associate Director - Arup
• Dr Clare Heaviside, Professor of Climate Change, Health and Cities - UCL
• Serra Ardor, Junior Building Physics & Sustainability Consultant - HTA Design
• Susie Diamond, Founding Partner - Inkling Partnership LLC

This session will provide an overview of the climate adaptation landscape, examining the key risks facing the built environment and where urgent action is needed. Through insights from CIBSE experts, speakers will explore challenges including overheating, flooding, moisture, and water resilience, as well as emerging priorities and gaps in sector readiness.

Speakers:

• Gita Maruthayanar, Project Director - MEP and Sustainability - Ramboll
• Gwilym Still, Director of Passivhaus - Max Fordham

This session will showcase real-world examples of climate adaptation in practice, covering new-build, retrofit, heritage, and complex building projects. Through a range of case studies, speakers will share lessons learned in designing for future climate scenarios, applying technical guidance, and balancing resilience, performance, and practicality across different building types.

Climate-related planning policy, resilience standards, and emerging insurance requirements are placing greater emphasis on overheating mitigation, flood preparedness, and system resilience. Engineers need clear guidance on applying CIBSE TM59, CIBSE TM61–64 and the Climate Action Plan within evolving regulatory and risk frameworks.

Increasing frequency of extreme heat, intense rainfall, and drought conditions is driving demand for robust adaptation strategies. Overheating in homes, flood risk in urban areas, and failures in HVAC and power systems are now urgent challenges across the built environment. 

The sector requires upskilling in climate modelling, resilience assessment, digital infrastructure protection, and interdisciplinary collaboration to meet rapidly evolving adaptation demands and ensure future-proofed building services. 

Many buildings remain vulnerable to overheating, moisture risk, and service disruption despite design-stage modelling. Improved use of future weather files, climate scenarios, and resilience metrics is essential to close the gap between predicted and real-world performance. 

With the majority of 2050’s buildings already operational, adaptation of existing stock—supported by CIBSE TM61–64 and integration with PAS 2035—is critical to safeguard occupants, maintain asset value and reduce operational disruptions.