Heat Resilience Planning FM
Extreme heat forces FMs to juggle thermal safety, IAQ, system reliability and equity while keeping buildings operable and productive. Building resilience planning, continuous monitoring, adaptive controls and heat-health preparedness are central to managing these converging risks.
Heat action plans
FMs can build heat resilience by combining better monitoring, passive/active cooling, staff protocols and longer-term upgrades.
FMs should integrate local heat warnings into a heat action plan covering communication, staffing and backup procedures.49–51 Such an action plan may be structured around the following goals:
A heat resilience framework for FM
Extreme heat is no longer an isolated environmental issue. It is a critical FM risk that affects IAQ, material performance, occupant well-being, system reliability and business continuity. As buildings face increasingly frequent and severe heat events, FM teams require a structured and repeatable management approach that moves beyond reactive response.
To support this, a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) framework for heat resilience is proposed. Rooted in established ISO management system principles, the framework provides a continuous improvement cycle for preparing, responding to, monitoring and improving resilience to extreme heat events.
A key principle of this framework is that heat resilience is a cross-functional responsibility. FMs should lead the process but cannot deliver it alone. Organizations should establish a dedicated Extreme Heat Task Force, led by an appointed Heat Resilience Champion, to coordinate planning, implementation, monitoring and continuous improvement.
Typical task force membership may include representatives from:
- FM
- health and safety
- workplace/ employee experience
- HR
- sustainability/ESG
- engineering and maintenance
- business continuity/risk
- IT and critical infrastructure
- design and project teams
Plan: Assess risk, define governance and develop the Heat-Health Action Plan
The planning stage focuses on understanding the building’s exposure to extreme heat and establishing a formal Heat-Health Action Plan (HHAP).
This begins with a comprehensive heat risk assessment, including local climate projections, heatwave frequency, urban heat island effects and known building vulnerabilities such as west-facing façades, rooftop zones, highly glazed areas and poorly ventilated spaces.
FM teams should identify high-risk occupant groups and critical spaces, including elderly residents, schools, health care areas, top-floor offices, plant rooms and server rooms.
A review of building systems and materials should also be undertaken, considering:
- HVAC capacity and resilience during peak heat periods
- passive survivability during outages
- filtration and ventilation capability
- known hot spots within the building
- existing materials that may exhibit increased VOC and aldehyde emissions under elevated temperatures
This is particularly important when FM is involved in:
- new developments
- office relocations
- fit-out and workplace moves
- refurbishment and life cycle replacement projects
In these situations, FM should work closely with design, project and procurement teams to ensure that material selection decisions account for performance under elevated heat conditions, reflecting Chemical Insights’ findings that materials can behave differently at higher temperatures and that vague “low-VOC” claims may not fully reflect actual emissions risk.
This planning phase should result in a documented HHAP, including:
- alert thresholds and trigger points
- escalation routes
- roles and responsibilities
- communication protocols
- critical space procedures
- outage contingencies
- refurbishment and project design criteria
Typical resources required:
- Heat Resilience Champion
- cross-functional Extreme Heat Task Force
- FM lead
- health and safety specialist
- risk specialist
- building engineer/HVAC specialist
- workplace project manager/design lead
- procurement support
- access to local weather and climate warning systems
Do: Implement operational controls and project interventions
The Do stage focuses on implementing the operational measures and project interventions set out in the HHAP.
This includes:
- optimizing HVAC schedules and set points
- precooling buildings during off-peak hours
- cleaning filters and coils ahead of summer peaks
- deploying temporary cooling and filtration units
- activating cool rooms and shaded rest areas
- hydration stations and occupant guidance
- prioritizing vulnerable zones and users
When FM is involved in new development, relocation or refurbishment, this stage should also include the implementation of heat-resilient design and material strategies, for example:
- external shading
- solar control films
- cool roofs
- improved façade performance
- passive ventilation strategies
- careful specification of flooring, adhesives, coatings and furnishings
This ensures that heat resilience is embedded not only in operations but also in the physical environment itself.
Typical resources required:
- FM operations team
- engineering and maintenance contractors
- cleaning and workplace services teams
- project managers
- designers/architects
- procurement and supplier partners
- communications support for occupant alerts
Check: Monitor environmental performance and occupant outcomes
The Check stage focuses on evaluating whether the HHAP and associated interventions are performing effectively.
This should include monitoring of:
- internal temperature
- humidity
- PM2.5 and VOC levels
- thermal comfort complaints
- HVAC runtime and performance
- cooling system failures
- energy demand spikes
Occupant-focused indicators should also be reviewed, including:
- heat-related incidents
- well-being complaints
- absenteeism
- productivity impacts
- user feedback on thermal comfort
Where projects have involved new materials or refurbishment works, FM teams should also review whether specified materials are performing as expected under heat stress, particularly in relation to IAQ and occupant complaints.
Typical resources required:
- Building Management System (BMS)/sensor data
- air quality specialists
- workplace experience/help-desk data
- health and safety reporting
- project post-occupancy evaluation teams
- data analyst/data support
Act: Refine plans, improve standards and inform future projects
The Act stage focuses on learning from each heat event and embedding improvements into future operations and capital planning.
Using lessons captured during the Check phase, FM teams should review and update:
- heat alert thresholds
- escalation routes
- communication procedures
- staffing protocols
- vulnerable zone maps
- outage response plans
Critically, this stage should also inform future design and material standards for new developments, relocations and refurbishment projects.
For example, lessons learned may lead to:
- revised material specifications
- different flooring or coating standards and underlayment
- increased shading requirements
- upgrades to HVAC sizing assumptions
- changes to passive survivability criteria
This closes the loop back into future planning and ensures that Chemical Insights’ material research directly informs future FM-led capital and workplace decisions.
Typical resources required:
- Heat Resilience Champion
- Extreme Heat Task Force review meeting
- lessons learned workshop
- design standards/workplace guidelines owners
- capital planning team
- procurement and supplier review
By embedding this continuous improvement cycle, FM teams can move from reactive heat response toward proactive resilience, protecting occupants, safeguarding assets and sustaining operational continuity in an increasingly hotter world.
