Relative Humidity

Each component that makes up a building’s envelope is sensitive to a variety of climate stressors and as these stressors change so to do the anticipated lifespan for the fabric components. This change in degradation rate corresponds to a change in replacement cost over an assumed 20-year period. While not all building fabric components are vulnerable to all climate stressors, the percent change from baseline in replacement cost for those components which are vulnerable to a given climate stressor have been mapped.

Mapped values depict the percent change from baseline for the building fabric replacement costs due to increasing relative humidity for the average year in the time period for the 50th percentile models out of the 12-model suite. Click on a county to view the associated 95th percentile results. Time periods are 2030 (2021-2040), and 2070 (2061-2080). County-level results represent an area-weighted-average of the results for each climate data grid within the county.

Four building fabric components common in Welsh dwellings were analysed and are vulnerable to increases in relative humidity: roof tiles (clay/slate/concrete), walls (brick/stone), render and mortar (lime/cement), and masonry paint.

Additional information is available here: Wales Housing Climate Analysis Additional Information

Accompanying maps in this series can be found here:

Climate Projections consisting of Daily Maximum Temperature, Annual Precipitation, Daily Relative Humidity and Daily Specific Humidity

Indoor Conditions results consisting of Indoor Air Quality and Overheating

Building Fabric degradation results consisting of Solar Insolation, Precipitation and Relative Humidity

Case Studies for four representative towns and cities illustrate results at a resolution of 2.2 km, giving insight into the variation that is projected geographically across each area:

Aberystwyth consisting of Climate, Indoor and Fabric

Cardiff consisting of Climate, Indoor and Fabric

Swansea consisting of Climate, Indoor and Fabric

Wrexham consisting of Climate, Indoor and Fabric

For a better understanding of the impact of summertime overheating on houses that have been highly insulated and suggestions on approaches to tackling them go to: Considering summertime overheating in highly insulated homes: factsheet | GOV.WALES

For a better understanding of the impact of summertime overheating on post 1985 properties (including older buildings converted into flats) and suggestions on approaches to tackling them go to: Considering summertime overheating in post 1985 properties (including older buildings converted into flats): factsheet | GOV.WALES

For a better understanding of the impact of summertime relative humidity in older properties and suggestions on approaches to tackling them go to: Considering summertime relative humidity in older properties: factsheet | GOV.WALES

For a better understanding of the maintenance, repair and adaptation priorities of older, traditional properties under a changing climate, go to: Considering repair, maintenance and adaptation priorities for older properties: factsheet | GOV.WALES