Section
Your Home
British housing was built to hold heat in. Solid brick, small windows, dark roofs and a decade of insulation retrofits aimed entirely at winter. Part O covers new builds. This is for the other twenty eight million homes.
Writing
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What it costs to make an old house cope with heat
A retrofitted 1960s house sat ten degrees below a 35C day with no air conditioning. The bill was about £80,000 over ten years. What the money bought.
David White -
What the October 2026 price cap changes about what you run
Electricity loses its VAT and gas rises 8% from 1 October. The verified rates, and the point where a heat pump becomes cheaper than a gas boiler.
David White -
Shade the glass from the outside, or you are already too late
An internal blind stops the light after the heat is in the room. External shading stops it at the glass. What the regulations assume about west windows.
David White -
The overheating rule that applies to new homes, and the ones it leaves out
Part O has covered new homes in England since 2022. What it asks builders to do, the homes it does not reach, and what to check before you commit.
David White -
What a portable air conditioner actually costs to run
The purchase price is the small number. Here is how to work out the running cost for your own unit, your own tariff and the nights you would use it.
David White -
Work out how much cooling your room needs before you buy anything
Cooling is a number, not a feeling. Here is how to get it for your own room, and why the answer is often that a machine is the wrong purchase.
David White