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Hundreds of thousands of Londoners face having to retrofit their loft conversions as temperatures soar in coming years, a new report is warning.
Sir Sadiq Khan and London Councils published the study which outlined how the capital needs to adapt to the growing climate crisis.
The string of recent heatwaves have laid bare the scale of the threat facing the city.
“We must create cooler homes and buildings, greener and shadier neighbourhoods, and infrastructure that can withstand a hotter climate,” Sir Sadiq stressed.
Loft conversions have been specifically identified by City Hall as a priority housing type for overheating retrofit.
The Heat Ready London Technical Report, commissioned by the Mayor, told how climate-related damage could cost the capital up to ÂŁ36 billion a year by the 2050s.
More than half of homes in Britain already experience overheating risk, it explained.
Without adaptation, under a high-emissions warming scenario for 2C warming in 2050, the overheating risk in a typical summer is projected to result in up to 10,000 excess heat-related deaths in the UK.
The May and June heatwaves alone are estimated to have killed 1,000 Londoners.
Indoor overheating, the report added, is the primary causal exposure for most heat-related premature deaths and ill-health.
“With 92 per cent of residents in all existing homes affected by heat risk, it is critical homes are retrofitted to be heat-resilient,” the study said.
Highlighting the varied housing stock across London, it added: “Some archetypes such as top-floor flats, loft conversions, bungalows and highly insulated and glazed homes have higher risk of overheating.
