Summertime temperatures in 282 UK homes: thermal comfort and overheating risk

Summertime temperatures in UK homes are a matter of increasing concern, particularly because of global warming and an increased incidence of heat waves. Refurbishment adds to uncertainty about the resilience of UK homes to climate change. This paper examines internal summertime temperatures in the living and bedrooms of 282 homes in the UK city of Leicester. This is a statistically representative sample of the citys housing stock. The generally cool monitoring period included a short period of hot weather. Occupant behaviour had a significant impact on internal temperature, 13% of the homes were actively heated even during the spell of hot weather. In the 230 unheated homes, 28% of the living rooms and 88% of bedrooms were classed as severely overheated, as judged by the static, CIBSE, criteria. In contrast, 64% of the living rooms and 71% of the bedrooms were judged uncomfortably cool as defined by the BSEN15251 Cat II adaptive thermal comfort standard.