Cooling down our homes in the heat

As our summers get warmer, heat gain, not just heat loss, is becoming an increasingly important public health issue.

In the  summer of 2022, the UK experienced an unprecedented 40°C heatwave, causing an estimated 2,985 deaths.

In the UK, we have some of the oldest and most poorly insulated homes in Europe. This not only means colder, damper, homes in the winter, but also homes that get too hot in the summer. By the mid-2030s, it’s estimated that 90 per cent of the UK’s housing stock could be susceptible to overheating.

There are several ways we can make our existing homes more resilient and reduce the risk of overheating such as insulation, ventilation and heat pumps (not just good for keeping your home warm in the winter, some heat pumps can reverse the flow to remove heat from homes and keep them cool when temperatures rise).

All these strategies fall under the umbrella term of retrofit. Retrofit refers to any improvement work on an existing building to make it more energy efficient, making it both easier to heat and keep cool.

If you live in private or socially rented housing, then your landlord is responsible for making any improvements to your home. If you own your own home and want to start on your retrofit journey, there are lots of grants and resources to help you get started.

This can be a daunting task to undertake alone and community groups around the UK have been coming together to launch community-led retrofit projects that get entire neighbourhoods fit for the future.

In Balsall Heath, a coalition of community groups and residents led a community-powered effort to make the most of government funding and retrofit as many as 650 homes.

In London, Repowering London and South East London Community Energy are pioneering a community-centred approach through their Future Fit Homes project. They’re providing free grant eligibility assessments and expert advice to homeowners in Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Newham as well as workshops and events.

You can find your local community energy group through the Community Energy England site.

Now more than ever it is vital that we make our homes fit for purpose for the health of both people and planet!

Retrofit is not a quick fix and it can take many months or years to make these changes, so in the meantime, here are some practical tips for how to keep cool in the heat:

• avoid the sun between the hours of 11am – 3pm
• stay hydrated and keep plenty of cool water to hand
• keep windows and curtains closed during the hottest parts of the day
• take a cool shower or place your feet in a basin of cool water (for best results the water should be just below body temperature, not cold)
• switch off lights and appliances not in use
• if you are too hot in your home, visit a public cool space like a library or shopping centre.