Another Peabody scheme, Macfarlane Place, completed in 2024 as part of the former BBC Television Centre development in west London, features external shutters that allow residents to control how much sunlight to let into their apartments. Mr Ellis says the association looks at constructing a new building in such a way that it “passively keeps itself cool as much as possible”.
In a sign of how quickly the climate has changed, he says that “when it was really hot a couple of years ago”, BedZED, a zero-carbon scheme Peabody completed in south London in 2002, “was overheating”.
Mr Ellis says the UK needs to “get used to having hot weather” and learn from the rest of Europe about how to deal with it. “There are opportunities… where we can use open spaces and nature to cool down our buildings,” he says. “It’s not only shutters or curtains or blinds. We can use trees.”
Aside from climate change, there is a legal and regulatory compliance risk for landlords in relation to overheating.
In October, the government will extend Awaab’s Law to include excess heat, among other hazards. Last December, Inside Housing reported that the solicitor for a resident of a Southwark Council flat in south London flagged an emergency hazard under Awaab’s Law due to excessive heat. The internal temperature in the flat, without heating on, was 27°C on the night of 6-7 November, according to the solicitor. The flat was completed in 2023.
Midland Heart is using the annual desktop assessment of its overheating risk by the environmental consultancy SHIFT to support its planning for the second phase of Awaab’s Law, as well as the Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard, according to a statement from the 35,000-home association. A spokesperson said no one was available for interview.
“There are opportunities where we can use open spaces and nature to cool down our buildings. It’s not only shutters or curtains or blinds”
The association takes “practical steps to manage overheating” in its homes, according to the statement, which gave a list of examples including mechanical ventilation in kitchens and bathrooms and assessments of overheating in new builds.
When SHIFT analysed Midland Heart’s properties, the consultancy found 12% were at “medium to high” risk of overheating, according to the association’s 2024-25 financial statements. Medium risk means three or four of six risk factors are present, says Richard Lupo, managing director of SHIFT; high means five or six.
Risk factors, according to SHIFT, include whether a home was built post-2000; whether it is a flat (because there is less opportunity for ventilation); whether it is in an urban heat island; whether cross-ventilation is possible; and whether there is a communal heating system.
Mr Lupo says homes built since 2000 have high levels of insulation, but overheating regulations were “quite flawed” until changes were introduced in 2022. He adds that he has heard anecdotally from the consultancy’s clients of residents lodging disrepair claims because internal pipework from communal heating systems was making their homes too hot.
Ms Shields from WHG says Awaab’s Law will help people in roles like hers “elevate” the attention the sector pays to the risk of overheating. “Because, of course, generally when in a very regulated organisation and sector, as we are, it’s challenging to get anything done if it’s not mandated, compulsory, legislated or regulated,” she says.
“Nobody wants to be in a position where we’re seeing our customers suffer because of overheating, but if we are mandated to evidence how we’re reporting on it or what we’re doing about it, that can only help us drive it forward as a priority.”