Abstract
ABSTRACTResearch in UK and elsewhere has highlighted that older people are particularly vulnerable to negative health effects of overheating. This paper examines the magnitude, causes, preparedness and remedies for addressing the risk of summertime overheating in four case study residential care and extra-care settings across the UK, spanning different building types, construction and age. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted, drawing from building science and social science methods, including temperature monitoring, building surveys, and interviews with design and management teams. The findings suggest that overheating is a current and prevalent risk in the case study schemes, yet currently little awareness or preparedness exists to implement suitable and long-term adaptation strategies (e.g., external shading). There was a perception from designers to managers, that cold represents a bigger threat to older occupants’ health than excessive heat. A lack of effective heat management was found across the case studies that included unwanted heat gains from the heating system, confusion in terms of responsibilities to manage indoor temperatures, and conflicts between window opening and occupant safety. Given that care settings should provide protection against risks from cold and hot weather, design, management and care practices need to become better focused towards this goal.
Highlights
Climate change is expected to result in hotter, drier summers in the UK with increased frequency, intensity and duration of high external temperatures (DEFRA, 2011)
This is expected to have a significant impact on internal temperatures within buildings; causing overheating which can affect the thermal comfort of the occupants (Zero Carbon Hub (ZCH), 2015; Hames and Vardoulakis, 2012) and result in negative impacts on the health and well-being of the population (DEFRA, 2012)
A case study based approach was adopted in this research study, focussing on two residential care homes and two extra-care facilities to demonstrate the risk of overheating in environments with different levels of care provision
Summary
Climate change is expected to result in hotter, drier summers in the UK with increased frequency, intensity and duration of high external temperatures (DEFRA, 2011). Since the European heatwave of summer 2003, there has been considerable attention paid to national preparations and responses to periods of hot weather across European countries, including in the UK, in relation to vulnerable persons such as those who live in care and extra care schemes Amongst other things this has culminated in the Heatwave Plan for England (PHE, 2015), which is linked to the UK Met Office Heat-Health Watch Service (system that provides early warning of periods of high temperatures which may affect the health of the UK public). Understanding the relation between indoor temperature and health is probably more critical (CCC, 2014) due to the range of factors mediating the relation between indoor and outdoor temperature, including building design and occupants’ thermal comfort practices (Dengel and Swainson, 2012) Within this context, this paper investigates the magnitudes, likely causes, preparedness and remedies for addressing the risk of summertime overheating in four case study care schemes (two residential and two extra care), located across the UK.
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