How the UK's extreme heat is shifting the conversation about air-con

Mandy Bourne lives with her 80-year-old mum in a top-floor social housing flat in the West Midlands. Both struggle with health conditions exacerbated by the recent heatwaves. For Mandy, temperature shifts can trigger flare-ups of her chronic lung condition. "I've got COPD and sometimes I can't breathe," she explains. Across the UK, solid brick homes like theirs quietly absorb heat the way they have for decades. Charged-up walls radiate warmth back into rooms that never get the chance to cool. Mandy says she is constantly reaching for her inhaler as her flat overheats. "It's red hot in the flat. The sun is just beaming in." That retained warmth can push night-time temperatures in urban centres up to 7C higher than the surrounding countryside. This is the urban heat island effect and it is at its most dangerous in the early hours when bodies need cooler air and cannot find it. Modelling of a previous West Midlands heatwave by researchers from the University of Birmingham reached the bleak conclusion that the heat island impact alone accounted for roughly half the 130 heat-related deaths. Jo Shields, head of sustainability for Mandy's housing association Walsall Housing Group, known a

Jul 29, 2026 → Aug 14, 2026