Lessons from a heatwave: how we support residents during life-threatening temperatures

This wasn’t simply about keeping people comfortable. It was about keeping them safe. 

For years, overheating was treated largely as a design issue or a question of comfort, rather than receiving the same level of attention as other housing hazards. Approved Document O, which supports the Building Regulations, introduced requirements for new homes to reduce the risk of overheating.

However, the regulatory framework has evolved. Excess heat has been recognised as a hazard under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) since its introduction in 2006, and recent reforms – including updates to the HHSRS and the introduction of Awaab’s Law – have strengthened the expectations on landlords to identify and address serious hazards within defined timescales.

Although it does not apply directly to housing providers, the UK Health Security Agency’s Heat-health Alert system issues graded warnings to health, social care and other public sector organisations when high temperatures are expected to pose a risk to health.

The alerts prompt organisations to identify vulnerable people, recognise when homes may be becoming dangerously hot and take appropriate action to reduce the risk. 

Looking back, what struck me most about last week wasn’t simply the scale of the response at A2Dominion. It was how colleagues understood the risks. 

We didn’t wait for residents to ask for help. We recognised that a lift failure during a heatwave isn’t just an inconvenience. Someone trapped on an upper floor without ventilation or easy access to water can become seriously ill very quickly. 

That understanding shaped every decision we made. We put temporary risk assessments in place when lifts failed, got fans and portable air conditioning units out at short notice and tightened our emergency protocols, making sure anyone without water was reached within four hours. 

Any A2Dominion colleague visiting or speaking to a resident was given a simple triage assessment to work through, and provided with important information to share, including when to escalate concerns to 111 or 999. Every interaction was recorded, giving us valuable information about where pressures were emerging and helping us refine our response for future heatwaves.

In a handful of cases, we helped residents move temporarily to stay with family or friends, or into hotel accommodation with proper air conditioning. We also converted our Warm Hub in in Chichester, normally available to residents who need a warm place to sit during the winter, into a Cool Hub for the week, giving people somewhere comfortable to escape the heat.

“Housing providers already have well-established plans for storms, flooding and freezing weather. Extreme heat now deserves the same attention”

We offered porter support in some buildings so residents could safely move buggies and mobility aids up and down stairs. Fortunately, only one emergency ambulance call was needed, with our safeguarding team and housing managers responding immediately. We are pleased to say the resident is now safe and well, and a new ventilation unit is being installed in their home to help reduce overheating in the future.

Housing providers already have well-established plans for storms, flooding and freezing weather. Extreme heat now deserves the same attention.

That means organisations like A2Dominion developing permanent heatwave plans rather than reacting each time temperatures soar. It means understanding which buildings are most vulnerable to overheating, giving colleagues clear escalation routes, thinking differently about shading and ventilation, having welfare check frameworks ready to activate, and working much more closely with health and social care partners.

According to the Met Office, periods of exceptionally hot weather are becoming both more frequent and longer lasting. Heatwaves in the UK are now around twice as likely and last around twice as long as they did in the 1960s. The Met Office also says that ‘tropical nights’ – when temperatures do not fall below 20°C overnight – are becoming more common.

Right now, we’re heading into a cooler period, but more very hot weather is already being forecast for next month. With that, we have a choice: we can continue to treat each heatwave as an isolated event, or we can recognise that heatwaves are now part of the average British summer and plan accordingly.

Stephen Walker, director of customer and communities, A2Dominion