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Speaker 1: If you followed the news in the last couple of decades,

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Speaker 1: you'll know we've had real problems in this country with

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Speaker 1: houses that are too cold in the winter. Well, it

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Speaker 1: looks like you can't quite catch a break. Now we've

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Speaker 1: got townhouses that are too hot in the summer, and

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Speaker 1: these are new townhouses. A renter in christ Church says

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Speaker 1: the temperature in his bedroom has reached fifty degrees celsius

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Speaker 1: a few times this month. Can you imagine. Sean Taylor

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Speaker 1: is the owner of Team Green Architects, and she's with

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Speaker 1: me to explain how this could be happening. Sean, Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the show. Hi, thank you for being with me.

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Speaker 1: Why are we having this problem? What is it that

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Speaker 1: we're doing wrong?

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Speaker 2: Look, it's hard to say, but I think it's a

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Speaker 2: combination of there being more and more townses being built,

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Speaker 2: which is something that we need because we need to

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Speaker 2: dance by our ceties, and this is happening quite quickly.

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Speaker 2: But often they're being built with large walls of glazing,

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Speaker 2: and if you have large large walls of glass facing

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Speaker 2: anywhere but sat, they're basically going to overheat if they're

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Speaker 2: not shaded externally.

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Speaker 1: So is nothing to do with insulation. We're not over

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Speaker 1: insulating to try and compensate for the winter and then

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Speaker 1: having the opposite effect in summer.

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Speaker 2: No, it's nothing to do with that. That's a really

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Speaker 2: that's been a misconception that's come out recently. It's something

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Speaker 2: that I've heard and Minister talk about, and it's completely false.

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Speaker 2: I live in a house that's as highly insulated as

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Speaker 2: it could possibly be. It's a passive house, and it

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Speaker 2: basically stays the same temperature throughout the year, within a

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Speaker 2: really good temperature range, and when we're basically lovely and

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Speaker 2: cool in the summer and lovely and warm in the winter.

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Speaker 1: So the problem is big windows.

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Speaker 2: The problem is big windows that are not externally shaded.

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Speaker 2: So if you're designing in a way that you're basically

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Speaker 2: creating greenhouse, which is what's happening, because we're getting all

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Speaker 2: these townhouses which might be sort of muldiple townhouses in

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Speaker 2: a row that could be two or three stories high

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Speaker 2: with lots of glass, and then they're not properly ventilated,

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Speaker 2: so the windows don't open very much, and often they

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Speaker 2: might just have one air conditioning unit on the ground

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Speaker 2: floor and there's no external shades at all. And they

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Speaker 2: just overheat.

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Speaker 1: We want the views, don't we Yeah, and with the windows,

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Speaker 1: I mean because they're second third floor. There's these weird rules,

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Speaker 1: aren't they. You know, window can only open like a crack.

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Speaker 2: Yes, well, look it isn't. It isn't. It isn't a

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Speaker 2: weird rule. It's basically for safety. So if you have

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Speaker 2: a window that's all the way to the floor, you

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Speaker 2: don't want it opening that much. But essentially you still

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Speaker 2: need to design in such a way that you're not

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Speaker 2: bringing that heat in because what also happens is then

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Speaker 2: if you pull down say black Linds on the inside,

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Speaker 2: you actually trap that heat. So you bring the heat

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Speaker 2: into the building through the glass and then trap it

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Speaker 2: behind the blind and you can't get rid of it.

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Speaker 2: So as soon as you incorporate something like air conditioning,

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Speaker 2: it just fights it, but it doesn't actually stop the

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Speaker 2: building overheating.

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Speaker 1: So what should we do then, if we're living in

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Speaker 1: one of these hot boxes?

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Speaker 2: Well, I personally think firstly, we need to change the

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Speaker 2: building code, which doesn't resolve the people who've already living

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Speaker 2: in one, which is not great, but it does stop

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Speaker 2: things happening in the future because the way that we're

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Speaker 2: doing this. There's nothing in the building Code to basically say,

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Speaker 2: are you creating a comfortable internal environment? So building can

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Speaker 2: just be designed to either be too hot or too cold,

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Speaker 2: and that's what's been happening. And insulation levels have gone

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Speaker 2: up recently, which means that we've stopped them being too cold,

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Speaker 2: but we're not doing anything to stop them being too

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Speaker 2: hot because there's nothing to stop us doing that in

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Speaker 2: the in the building Code.

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Speaker 1: So we actually need a limit at the other end

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Speaker 1: of the spectrum.

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Speaker 2: We do. I look personally, I think we should be

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Speaker 2: energy modeling all of our buildings to show if they're

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Speaker 2: going to be suitable for human habitation, which they're not.

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Speaker 2: If they're hitting like fifty degrees, they're not definitely not comfortable.

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Speaker 2: They no one should be living in them.

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Speaker 1: Should we can we just put shutters on the outside

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Speaker 1: like they do.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that that is definitely the best way to go.

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Speaker 2: And and you know, if you travel anywhere in Europe,

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Speaker 2: you've basically got shutters and on almost every building. And

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Speaker 2: you know, the Romans new how to design to avoid

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Speaker 2: too much sun, so did the Greeks. It's not new,

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Speaker 2: it's just it's actually comes down to really simple passive

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Speaker 2: principles and it doesn't cost anything. I just need to

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Speaker 2: design to stop the heat coming in when it's too hot.

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Speaker 1: Sean, thank you very much for that. Really interesting to

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Speaker 1: see how thick we've become. Sean Taylor, owner of Team

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Speaker 1: Green Architects, isn't been amazing what you learn and then unlearn.

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