The government’s heatwave mortality statistics for 2020 show that there were 2,556 excessive deaths attributed to heatwaves that year. There were a significant number of excessive deaths in all regions of England except two in the North-east. We should therefore not think that summertime overheating in buildings – or its impacts – occurs only in London and the South-east of England. 

The government predicts that the number of annual deaths associated with overheating will triple by the 2050s. The majority of these deaths are in the over-65 age group, with a higher proportion than average among the over-85s, but the data shows that excessive deaths occur in every age group, although the problem becomes greater from the over-45 age group upwards.

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