How is Sheffield handling the heatwave at home?

The Star, Sheffield

Heatwaves have become a fact of life each summer in the UK, but British homes aren't built to handle the heat. We asked Sheffield's public how they are faring during another 30C day in the UK.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, it's Alyssa from the Sheffield Star. We're no more than asking people what

00:03their experience is living at home during the heat wave, I'm asking if UK

00:06homes were sort of made for these kind of heats. What's your experience?

00:11Ours has been pretty tough. We don't have a house, we've been renting flats just because we can't afford a house at the moment.

00:18And because we've been in studios for the last couple of years, it's been really tough.

00:23We don't have aircon and our oven has been in the same room as our bed.

00:27So when we're going to see the heat from cooking, the heat from trying to eat, windows that only open a tiny amount.

00:35We've not got enough airflow for fans to work, we've not even got the space for a fan.

00:41I think a lot of it comes from a lot of UK houses that are built for holding in heat to keep it warm over the winter.

00:49Because like the UK used to be a lot of cold days now, with how the temperature is these days,

00:55that my own temperature, keeping the heat in, it's just really not working in the summer anymore.

01:01The winter's getting warmer, so it's not even as necessary that either.

01:05It comes back to bite even if you make modifications to insulate and save money, it comes back to bite you in the summer, I suppose.

01:11It's not been so bad now because we do have air conditioning, but it's expensive to run, but it's quite energy prices at the moment.

01:19So you just start between rock and hard ways, you're at home.

01:21Yeah, it's too hot, it's too cold in the winter to afford heating and it's too hot in the summer to afford aircon.

01:27And that's kind of like the issue for us and many others, I think.

01:32We do call them heat waves. When we were growing up, we used to have to sit up all night in the backyard because it was too hot to go to bed.

01:44And we just love this weather. We enjoy it. If it's too hot, we sit in the shade, keep cool.

01:52All these frightening people, we just get on with it.

01:57How have you seen the weather change over your lifetime, I suppose, in the UK?

02:02Maybe a little bit.

02:03Yeah, the winters have got warmer. When the winters were, it was six weeks on the ground, the snow, going to school.

02:11So it has changed.

02:15I don't know if you've stayed in the same home for any portion of your life, but how built is it for different UK weathers at this point then?

02:22Like, is it fit in the winter or does it fit in the summer at this point?

02:25Right.

02:27Fine?

02:28I've got a lot of insulation.

02:30I've got blindness, little clothes when it's hot.

02:33I don't see the problem.

02:35Lovely.

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