Air conditioning firms say business is booming, with one reporting that enquiries for home units have climbed by 300% as Britain swelters through its hottest June on record.
Shoppers rushed to snap up portable units after a red extreme heat warning was put in place for millions of people and temperatures climbed to 36.7C, the highest figure ever recorded for the month in the UK, according to the Met Office. Schools closed, transport was disrupted and people across the country went searching for cooler spaces in which to work or rest.
For installers, the spike in demand has been transformational. At Aircon Services in Tamworth, domestic enquiries have risen by 300% over the past six years, with the current heatwave pushing the firm from roughly two enquiries a week to about 25.
“People are not willing to tolerate the heat any more,” said co-founder Marc Newbold, who added that air conditioning was starting to be viewed as a necessity rather than a luxury. “We are stacking up bookings for weeks to come and the enquiries are difficult to keep up with, but it creates a lot of business.”
The numbers point to a structural shift rather than a one-off summer scramble. Just 4% of homes in England currently have air conditioning, according to the University of Reading, yet the National Housing Federation (NHF) predicts that 90% of UK homes will overheat by 2050. British housing stock has historically been designed for the cold, with the aim of trapping heat in rather than keeping it out, leaving millions of properties poorly suited to the more frequent and intense heatwaves driven by climate change.
Overheating occurs when indoor temperatures rise to an uncomfortable level, typically above 25C to 27C, and the NHF warns that it is more likely to affect lower-income households that may not be able to afford cooling measures. “Many homes are unable to maintain comfortable temperatures during the more frequent and intense heatwaves we are experiencing as a result of climate change,” the federation said. Prolonged exposure to high indoor temperatures is linked to heat exhaustion and heat stroke, cardiovascular problems, sleep disturbance and mental health issues.
Finding an air conditioned space has become a topic of conversation for many. Churches, community centres, museums and libraries have stepped in with free “cool spaces”, helping people escape the rising temperatures. But a growing number are going further and installing air conditioning at home.
Cost is proving less of a barrier than it once was. Cooling a small bedroom can run to about £1,500, but Newbold said customers increasingly see it as an investment in comfort rather than an expense, particularly as the units are designed to last around 15 years. “It’s not just a one-year purchase,” he said. The firm, which also fits systems for hotels, shops and offices, is among many smaller operators finding that the heat is reshaping their order books, even as the wider economy counts the cost of soaring temperatures on small businesses and productivity.
For owner-managers, the lesson runs deeper than a hot summer. Repeated heatwaves are quietly rewriting consumer demand, from the retail sales lift that fans and cooling products enjoy to the longer-term maintenance and servicing market that follows every new installation. For the SMEs positioned to meet it, what once looked like a seasonal flurry is starting to resemble a permanent line of business.