An analysis of overheating levels corresponding to
building morphology yielded the modelling uncertainty
due to the geometry and layout of two-bedroom flats in
London, England. A new method is introduced, which
collates information on various flat layouts in the current
London housing stock. To ensure an unbiased sample was
selected, dwellings were chosen randomly, yielding
twelve flats in and around inner London. Dynamic
thermal simulations were performed using EnergyPlus to
determine individual dwellings’ overheating risk. The
results described the influence of geometry and layout
configuration on overheating risk, which has rarely been
analysed in previous studies. Irregular façades led to
higher overheating levels in the set-back part of the
building. Default configurations were used to model basecase archetypes, with further simulations performed to
study the effects of orientation, ceiling heights and
window glazing fractions. Compared with these factors,
bigger differences between mean operative temperatures
of flats were due to layout, with 3.5 °C in bedrooms,
1.5 °C in living rooms and 2.2 °C in kitchens