Infrastructure upgrades in response to future heatwaves
This content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments. Please see the PDF for the official version of the document.
WQ.141/2026
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE BY DEPUTY L.M.C. DOUBLET OF ST. SAVIOUR
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 6th JULY 2026 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 13th JULY 2026
Question
"Will the Minister advise what assessments, if any, have been undertaken across the States of Jersey property estate of the need for infrastructure upgrades in response to potential future heatwaves, including details of –
- any buildings which require upgrades;
- the type of infrastructure upgrade that is required; and
- the estimated cost of any upgrades;
and if no assessments have been undertaken, will the Minister explain why these assessments have not taken place, when such work will be undertaken, and how Members will be informed of the findings?"
Answer
The public estate covers a wide variety of buildings and assets that fulfil a wide variety of functions. These functions have different recommendations for comfortable operating temperatures, with office work for example the subject of UK HSE guidance of a maximum of 30 degrees. Building users have a process of risk assessments and business continuity contingency plans that will enable them to continue to perform their functions in a variety of different scenarios, including high temperatures. Current temperature spikes are managed by building users and operators, with options from a selection of measures such as hours of working, working from home and relaxed clothing guidelines to ensure safe and comfortable working.
Where operational mitigations are not possible or are difficult to achieve, alterations to the fabric of buildings and the introduction of mechanical solutions is considered, and there are a number of interventions that are currently in progress. These vary from temporary solutions such as keeping roofs wet to increase evaporation, increasing solar reflection by changing roof colours from dark to light colours, solar reflective film for windows and extend to the introduction of mechanical cooling solutions.
There is currently no plan to undertake estate wide thermal modelling. There are plans to include upgrades where needs have been identified which cover a wide variety of measures as outlined above. Funding for these measures requires reprioritisation of reactive maintenance funds. If operational requirements necessitate more material alterations, these funds will be bid for in the budget process.