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New research from campaigners at Warm This Winter has found that many vulnerable people have been so hot at home its made them unwell – particularly those with underlying health conditions.
The same inefficient housing stock that people struggle to heat in the winter months can be dangerously hot in a heatwave.
Fiona Waters, spokesperson for Warm This Winter, said:
Hot House Syndrome is a real problem caused by the UK’s appalling housing stock and affects the poorest and the vulnerable the most. The same people who suffer from damp, mouldy homes in winter are stifled in summer when the sun comes out.
That’s because the solutions to keep us warm in the colder weather are the same as keeping us cool in summer. Better insulation, ventilation and even heat pumps that can operate in a cooling mode can all help. But the public need financial support to upgrade their homes.
The Warm This Winter research also revealed that people aged 18-34, those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups and those who rent from private landlords were more likely to experience heat related ill-health.
Dr Isobel Braithwaite, Public Health Doctor and housing researcher, said:
The complications arising from being too warm are especially dangerous among those with pre-existing health conditions and can contribute to summer being as dangerous to health as the winter in some cases. Without action, high temperatures in the future will herald health fears for millions.
Director of UK Programmes for climate solutions charity Ashden, Donal Brown, said:
Keeping homes cool and warm is mainly about insulation, insulation, insulation – of floors, walls and roofs. Then add ventilation and in some circumstances mechanical cooling using renewable energy.
What’s essential in a rapidly warming world is that these techniques are adopted quickly by planners, regulators and the construction industry and we prioritise support for those least able to pay for them and those most vulnerable to overheating. We must train and upskill builders to include these techniques while undertaking building works on homes currently without insulation, or switching over to heat pumps that can also provide cooling functions on overheating days.
