City living: What can be done about London’s overheating homes?

London architect Sean Hill specialises in designing homes that need very little energy to keep them warm or cool.

He says there are various aspects that can be taken into account when designing a home, including “the insulation of the building, the position and orientation of the building, the position of the windows [and] the size of the windows, in terms of overheating and as well as ventilating the space”.

His firm are working with couple Freya and Alex who recently bought a new home and want to introduce measures so that the space stays warm in the winter and cool in summer.

“We wanted to come in and kind of future-proof it, make it so that we thought it would be liveable for the next 20-plus years… so you don’t get too hot or too cold,” says Freya.

“That was our aim and because we’re lucky enough to be able to do it all in one go at the beginning, we’re going all out.”