By Neil Turner, Director, Howarth Litchfield.
We are well through the summer for 2025, and it’s been a warm one: in fact, it’s been overly dry and when rain comes, it comes with intensity and stronger winds. We have had four heatwaves this year.
All of these factors will affect how we design buildings and alter our existing buildings to cope as we move away from a maritime climate in the UK, to a more temperate zone.
So how will this affect buildings and more importantly the occupants of buildings?
At the moment only 5% of properties in the UK have air conditioning (AC) and most are using inefficient portable units. This figure is higher in Europe at 20% and at an incredible 90% in the United States.
Of course, if we all fitted AC into our homes, then our energy consumption would increase and our costs would also increase, at a time when energy costs are not only high but a major political issue.
All of these factors are connected and it’s up to the building industry and architects to find ways to make buildings stay cool, avoiding expensive retrofit and adaptation to include AC, where possible.
We designers must look at our buildings and devise strategies that seek to reduce energy consumption, keep people cool and avoid buildings overheating. Not an easy challenge.
A lot of the thinking is actually common sense and makes you wonder why more of the basic thinking is not in every building. I have written before about the condition of building stock in the UK – some 15% of which was built before 1900.
If the building is new, then in many ways, the challenge is easier. Orientation is key, so you can take advantage of the sun in winter and shelter from it in the summer. Levels of insulation can help avoid wide swings in the fabric of the building heating up.
The real challenge is older houses and buildings. This is where an experienced architect can bring real improvement and enjoyment to a building.
We are now undertaking more environmental and energy surveys on buildings with an emphasis on the reduction of carbon, but more needs to be done on the building assessment phase when introducing improvements for the occupants.
Ventilation together with thermal performance are the keys. The more stable the building temperature, the better for the occupants. So, to avoid freezing in winter and overheating in summer, consideration should be given to adding wall, roof and floor insulation.
Ventilation is more than simply opening a window – and some people fail to do this. Ventilation is about getting air movement through and up a building. Adding high level windows or extractors to allow hot air to escape and cross ventilation – air movement across a building – will create a welcome draft and keep down the temperature.
All buildings can be altered and improved so that you are not forced into expensive alterations like AC. Better to invest in shading, insulation and ventilation. Take some advice and the impact will be revealing.
It’s just a shame that the country is still designing and building houses that are not suitable for our warmer climate. While lip service is paid to carbon reduction, a lot is missing on the fundamental approaches to creating cooler designs. For many architects, ‘cool’ is a compliment on the design of a building instead of it being a requirement for its success in use.
Neil Turner, Director, Howarth Litchfield can be contacted on 0191 384 9470 or email n.turner@hlpuk.com
www.howarthlitchfield.com