The Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor, has overseen a £25mn redesign of Grosvenor Square in Mayfair — London’s second-largest garden square — as the capital faces increasingly brutal summers. Temperatures hit 40C in the UK for the first time in 2022, and this year saw seven days above 35C. The square, redesigned for only the fourth time in 300 years, now features 70,000 plants, 80,000 bulbs, 44 new trees, and two wetlands capable of absorbing 1.4mn litres of rainwater, acting as an urban sponge against flooding.

Grosvenor has also pushed to replace 3,500 windows with double or triple glazing across Belgravia. Nearby landlords including Shaftesbury Capital and The Crown Estate are pursuing similar upgrades, with the latter planting climate-resilient tree species along Regent Street. "Central London is increasingly experiencing hotter summers and other extreme weather conditions," said The Crown Estate's Anna Swaithes, emphasising that long-term resilience is a commercial imperative, not just an environmental one.