London’s risk from rising temperatures

In ‘22 we lived in a rental that was so poorly insulated, it was 35°C inside, worse in the bedroom which was right below the roof. We had one window unit a/c which we used to try and make it comfortable to sleep, and several fans downstairs. We had blackout curtains everywhere but they made little to no difference. One of our pugs ended up in hospital because of the heat. He ended up staying 2 days in an oxygen tank and they were considering putting him down. Thankfully he made a good recovery when temperatures dropped. We couldn’t let the dogs out in the back at the house because it was so hot, and had to use a pram to get them to the nearest park with shade. It was horrible on the tube or the bus. 

This year we have moved to a new house that we own. We installed a/c in all the main rooms and have a portable unit up in the loft extension for guests or very hot days when you have to be up there. We have blackout curtains and blinds at the moment, but if I could I would install outside shades asap. We have a garden with grass, a tree and a parasol. We have a park less than 5min away so are able to walk the dog at cooler times, the park has lots of trees so there is shade available. We are mostly using tube lines with a/c, I prefer taking longer but being cooler. 
I think buildings and streets need more shade. Someone needs to figure out a way to evacuate the heat from the tube tunnels and stations.  New houses need to be built with a/c units, and outside shutters like in hotter countries. Use white paint on roofs and subsidise insulation installation.
 

The overcrowding and lack of air conditioning on the tube (I’m thinking of the central line particularly) is unbearable. People are miserable and shouldn’t have to deal with this inadequate service just to get to work. I fear it’s going to get even worse now with companies asking people to come into the office more often.

Agree with some of the comments here that good urban planning of the public realm is not complicated and we can learn a lot from Spanish cities for example. We just need planning regulations to encourage better cooling measures in our cities and to stop allowing urban interventions that do not prioritise reducing heat gain. I live on the top floor of a 1940’s block, it is cheaply built as it is post war, there are no cavity walls, no wall insulation and we have a flat roof with no insulation, the black felt roof heats up immensely in the summer, the walls heat up too and I can feel the heat just by putting my hand on the internal side of the wall in my living room. There is no way to shade the outside of the windows to stop the glass heating up and heating the flat like a greenhouse. I can’t put awnings on because of the height, there is not room for shutters because the windows are flush with the outside wall. The government insulation programmes do not cover flat roofs. My flat becomes the same temperature as outside, in 2022 it was 37 degrees inside my flat despite closing all the windows mid morning and shutting all the curtains. I would open them up only once it was midnight and the temp dropped. Despite this I couldn’t enter my living room during the day or sleep at night so I went to stay with my parents. Outside the coolest places were ones with trees, and getting away from tarmac and roads, going to a park and sitting in the shade. I walked around with a parasol and hat and went to the Docklands on trains with AC to swim. After 2022. I paid to have the flat roof painted with solar reflective paint which has reduced the temperature by about 2 degrees. We are moving out because of the heat. The trees on my road have been cut down so the heat is even worse on the road when outside on the pavement. 

London is utterly miserable during extreme heat. I have to leave the capital and try to escape during heatwaves. I leasehold my flat and the landlord wont allow me to install air conditioning. It's like living in a green house. I look forward to September each year and dread the arrival of June. The other 9 months I love living here.

I don’t understand why installing A/C isn’t listed anywhere in the survey. Literally nothing else works in temperatures over 30 degrees. 

Air conditioning? Not a single question about surely the most effective solution, frankly ridiculous we’re talking about planting trees over this. There have been many programmes to support the rollout of more efficient boilers, heat pumps, etc and yet when it’s cooling air rather than heating it it’s not even considered. If too costly we can start by loosening requirements, mandating it in new construction, etc. 

I think there needs to be a coordinated roll out of airconditioning units. I have a fan, but I cannot install an aircon unit. When I work from home I end up sweating while seated. It’s horrible. I can’t sleep. I live near a large green space and a public swimming pool in which I can cool down, but I still have to sleep and work in this flat, which is impossible in the hot weather. I turn off the hot water in the Summer and just have cold showers, but it’s still unbearably hot. Please follow best practice in other global cities.

Installing air conditioning in schools , public buildings, council homes that are worst affected by heat, as well as busses should be combined with solar panels which would cover the needed electricity as the generated power is highest when temperatures are hottest. This would make a/c more sustainable and solar panels make sense anyway. 

Insulating houses brings improvement for both winter and summer. But it needs to be combined with effective air circulation and ideally outside shutters for windows facing the midday and afternoon sun, that's by far the most effective way of reducing overheating indoors. And educate people about how best to avoid the indoors heating up (shutting windows and shutters before it gets too hot outside, until evening). 

Councils and City led initiatives should prioritize council housing and those who are least well off, as well as making it a requirement for private landlords to install home insulation and heat proofing.

Before, I've been boiling during heatwaves since my room is at the top of the house and and all the heat rises, before I have just slept downstairs in my dad's study since it's generally cooler, but it's gotten to the point where my dad has bought an AC for my room since I consistently couldn't sleep in my room, it's helped but it uses alot of power.

I wish busses had better airflow since past a certain point, the air inside is hotter but the AC cannot cope, and opening the windows has little effect,

Good luck and thanks for your hard work

Living in a new-build with tiny windows and low ceilings, it's almost impossible to cool the inside down once the outside temperature gets above 25°C. The windows don't open enough to provide any sort of draught, and yet they're still so small as to make the flat dingy and depressing in winter.

Frankly, we need to be upgrading the Grid so it can cope with the fluctuations of wind-generated electricity, and then installing air conditioning and external shutters as standard. The alternative is people using the more inefficient portable air conditioning units. 

* Reflective walls and Reflective pavements which was an option in one questions is not the same as reflective roofs. Reflective pavements and walls can bounce back heat through windows into nearby properties, making them warmer still. These sort of solutions need further technical research.

* Green walls and more trees in the streets can give shade to building reducing heat input in the buildings. Trees in the streets also provide shade for pavements and pedestrian. Many streets in London virtually have no trees. This needs to be changed.

* Blinds and curtains inside the building do not actually reduce the amount of heat greatly. There is some reduction if the windows are open for the heat behind the curtains to escape.

The real solution comes from the outside by preventing direct sunlight into the building. This can be in the form of various types of external shutters, shades, and ultraviolet reflecting tint on the window glass.

* Increasing shade in the streets by trees, by encouraging stores and shops to open shades that hang over the pavements.

* Fountains and water features do help keep their immediate surrounding cooler, depending on wind or air flow conditions. They work better in narrow spaces with good air flow.

We need external shutters and where not possible such as in tall blocks, we need glasses with a reflective layer for ultra-violet light. This technology already exists. 

Small flats in large blocks can get extremely warm. Small flats are where large number of old people are housed. They are extremely vulnerable to heat waves. Some older people live with ailments such as cancer in their flats. Some have become disabled and bed-bound. A systematic solution is required for such people. 

There is need for new regulations, as many owners of large blocks, housing associations, and property developers are not willing to spend extra for the required changes.

Confusing questions for some of us, giving rise to different interpretations, effecting survey outcome.

Question 5: mode of transport to “work or study” excludes pensioners, unemployed,maternity leave etc. some travelling on daily basis – e.g. family carers, who may answer not in the expected way.

Question 6 asks how “worried” are you about extreme heat – it is not asking how much does it effect you – some people may just interpret this as how much worry does it give them (mental health factor) for example not worried even if it does effect them and some others may take worry as an indicator of how much it effects them.

Question 12 – 15 does not take account of Studios, one bed flats that are the size of studios, people living in single rented rooms… answers from people living in these sort of accommodation, cannot reflect the exact situation the questions seem to have in mind. 

Question 17 – asks about effectiveness of a number of factors in keeping “London” cooler. Some people may take this to mean London the large geographic area with a macro-climate and some people may interpret it as Londoners in a their local areas with micro-climate. For example fountains will effect people who are near the fountains but will not have significant effect on London’s weather. Other factors are similar. I expect different people have interpreted the question in these two different ways with their answers reflecting, in fact, two different questions.

Question 18 – asking which changes would you make to your home, is essentially addressing home owners. Renters in council flats, housing associations and some others do not have the rights or ability to makes changes to their homes in this way and there is no option to indicate it.

Question 19 – which community based activities is about programmes “during extreme heat” but I wonder when reading the different options, everyone would consider the question as not about preparing before extreme heat.

In other European cities every building has external shutters on which is far more effective at blocking heat than curtains or blinds. Why are developers still allowed to build new flat blocks without this? I’d love to install external shutters as my flat is 28-29 degrees for 3 months of the year but as a leaseholder I don’t have the rights to do it. London is totally ill equipped to deal with the heat and I dread to think how much worse it’s going to get.