Research impact

Our work fills an important gap in UK knowledge and research capability at the intersection of homes, health and environment and will benefit UK citizens in a number of ways.

It will help our project participants, as well as others living in flats, to actively improve the comfort of their bedrooms, improve sleep and in so doing improve their health and wellbeing.

The work is important to builders, engineers and architects who want to build comfortable homes, and to housing providers who may want to identify homes, either proposed or existing, that might be uncomfortable in summer.  

Social housing providers and residents will benefit from the guidance on behavioural interventions, personal adaptations and community support that can help alleviate sleep disruption due to heat.

The research will also: provide social and healthcare professionals with better advice about how people can improve night-time comfort; enable housing providers to plan and prioritise refurbishment; and inform planners and local and central government about maintaining comfort, without air-conditioning in flats. 

Most importantly, the work will protect the health and well-being of UK citizens as urbanisation continues and the climate warms.