Overheating in care settings: magnitude, causes, preparedness and remedies

ABSTRACT

Research 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.

KEYWORDS:

• elderly people
• environmental monitoring
• extra-care homes
• heat stress
• overheating
• public health
• residential care homes
• vulnerability

Acknowledgements

The authors thank their academic partners, Dr Alan Lewis of the University of Manchester and Professor Gordon Walker and Dr Louis Neven of Lancaster University, for their invaluable work and input into the study. They also thank the architects, asset managers, care home staff and residents of the four case study buildings who helped with the data-collection process. The authors are also grateful to those policy-makers, practitioners and researchers who attended their workshop to discuss emerging findings and recommendations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Joseph Rowntree Foundation [grant number DER003].