Swelter

Keeping British homes liveable in the heat

The problem

British homes were built to hold heat in

Solid brick, small windows, dark roofs, loft conversions, and a decade of insulation retrofits optimised entirely for winter. Building Regulations Part O sets an overheating standard for new builds. It says nothing about the twenty eight million homes that already exist.

This site is about those homes: what actually reduces the temperature in a British bedroom, what it costs to run, and when the honest answer is that no machine will fix it.

Sections

  1. Your Home

    Fabric, glazing, shading and ventilation. Why British houses trap heat and what changes it.

  2. Your Body

    Sleep, heat illness, medication, older readers, children and pets in hot weather.

  3. Outdoors

    Gardens, planting, water, paving and shade in a drying, warming climate.

  4. Products

    Cooling kit assessed on published specifications and running cost, never on a star rating.