On so many hot evenings this summer my 12-year-old daughter and I have argued about devices. Not the iPad or her smart phone, but the cobbled together collection of fans and the network of tangled extension cables she has around her bed – a fire risk and energy drain – but which she wants whirring all night long.
Last September, at the start of year 7, Aggy (Agatha) moved into the converted attic, which has two bedrooms under the pitched roof and a bathroom in the middle. Her old room on the first floor is now the study overlooking the street.
Painted Little Greene ‘China Clay Dark’ with a jungle scene feature wall behind the bed, I thought she would relish her own stylish space away from her two brothers.
However, like many attic bedrooms across the UK’s ageing housing stock her room becomes an unbearable hot box in July and August. In truth, even before that – in the summer term – the temperature has been stopping her from sleeping properly. For Aggy, leaving the Velux windows open especially at night with a light on invites in bugs that bite and, even worse, clothes moths. Hence the proliferation of noisy fans.
We were not alone in overlooking the functionality of the attic space when buying our 1930s house in the Surrey town of Haslemere. Like many buyers, we were focused on there being enough bedrooms, rather than the quality of those spaces in different seasons. After all, most of us only view a property at one fixed time of year.
Sarah* who lives with her family in a new-build house in Berkshire is considering selling because the whole house but particularly the attic bedrooms are too hot during the summer.
“Our home was built five years ago and truly feels like it cannot breathe. The sheer quantity of glass heats up the rooms to such an extent it is often still 28 or 29 degrees downstairs – let alone upstairs – at 10pm. I think all new-build homes should come with air conditioning as standard,” she says.
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That is simply not something most of us would have considered even a few years go but a recent study from Loughborough University estimates that one in five homes are unfit to handle the rising temperatures caused by climate change, with a lack of air conditioning (sometimes used in-conjunction with mechanical heat recovery ventilation systems), a modern love affair with glazing, poor insulation, and insufficient air vents.
As Britain enters its fourth heat wave of 2025, those planning a loft conversion are likely to build temperature regulation into the design.
Harriet Vine, the founder of the cult jewellery brand Tatty Devine, has just finished renovating her tall Victorian terraced house in Upper Clapton, adding a loft extension for her 17-year old daughter, which she wanted painting black (‘downpipe’ by Farrow & Ball). She did consider heat when she designed the space.
“It does get very hot up there, but she has a big Velux window right over her bed, so on hot nights it’s like sleeping under the stars,” says Vine. “I don’t think the black colour has any bearing on how hot it is, but the windows have black out blinds, which she leaves closed in the daytime to keep the sun out when she’s not there,” she adds.
According to high-end buyer Roarie Scarisbrick of Property Vision, air conditioning is now firmly on the house hunter wishlist in the luxury property market in central London. “It used to be an exotic quirk, demanded by a handful of wealthy international buyers. Very few properties had it. Now it is one of the most requested items. A 30-degree summer day in a sixth floor London flat is no joke,” he says.
However, it is expensive (from £1,000 to £4,000 for one room, plus labour and any decorating needed to hide the retrofit). It is difficult to install and energy-guzzling, to boot.
“It is fine if you own a freehold house with a garden to hide the condensers, but a nightmare if you own your own flat in the middle of a building with no outside space, and worse if it is listed,” Scarisbrick continues. “It is worth finding this out before you buy. It might not bother you, but a lack of air conditioning could make it harder to sell.”
Air conditioning is divisive, as estate agent Peter Wetherell warns. “Let us not forget that a lot of buyers and tenants do not like air conditioning. They can’t sleep with the noise and the draft makes them unwell,” he says.
Marion Baeli sits on the Government’s Retrofit System Reform Advisory Panel and is a partner at the global architecture practice 10 Design. Baeli believes air conditioning should be a last resort. “While air conditioning is effective, it should be a final measure due to its energy use and environmental impact,” she says.
To reduce the need for mechanical cooling, she suggests embracing seasonal migration. “Long before air conditioning, households adapted to seasonable changes by moving between rooms. If your layout allows it, consider spending the hottest months in cooler, lower-level rooms – this is the simplest, lower cost approach,” says Baeli.
External shading – such as external shutters or blinds – stops the sun’s rays before they hit the glass and where possible in an attic, create air flow by opening windows on both sides of the roof. Good roof insulation is a must too. “Good insulation slows down heat transfer, keeping attic rooms cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, and especially effective when paired with reflective roofing materials,” she says. In fact, reflective roof tiles are becoming more popular for this very reason.
While this year’s Apprentice winner, cheeky chappy Dean Franklin, who runs a company installing air conditioning units in residential properties, is hoping the series of heat waves leads to a boom in business for him and Lord Sugar, there is a swell in other, innovative products coming out too.
For the sophisticated gadget-lover, Venetia Rudebeck, co-founder of Studio Vero, recommends the Eight Sleep Pod smart mattress which actively regulates temperature during the night (from £2,998). It’s said to help with snoring too.
However, for the rest of us, there are a host of much cheaper DIY options: putting socks in the freezer and putting them on at night, along with your pillow, swapping old light bulbs that omit heat for LEDs and not using the oven on hot days to cool the house down.
As for Aggy, she now has a relatively quiet, rechargeable, portable desktop fan – so no cables plugged in at night – from Amazon (TriPole, £14.99).
In the long run I might turn the north-facing study into a flexi space with a day bed for really scorching nights. I wonder whether tidying her bedroom might help restore a feeling of calm, too.
*name has been changed
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