To feel baffled as to why buildings don't have shutters in the UK

Ooh. I like the sound of that.

I'm not a fan of shutters, they make it so dark but a big round the house verandah is utterly brilliant at keeping the house cool and big windows still mean invisible light.

Solar panel guidance for new builds from 2027/28. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rooftop-solar-for-new-builds-to-save-people-money

Oh OK - I'd assumed mechanically operated or with a winder/pulley like you get in Switzerland for instance.

I do all this religiously (but with regular windows not sashes) but it is only keeping the temperature about 10 degrees below the outside...which is a problem when it's pushing 40!

I just went to a museum of preserved buildings. They all had shutters and it was one of the points made by the guide. The people removed them from old houses when curtains and glass got popular and stopped adding them to new building.

Perhaps its just a south east thing as its in the south east to be fair

But regardless its not bashing a country to notice you like something common elsewhere and it could easily be used here. Im so invested in my country i want it to get better and better

so why don’t Greece and Italy etc move on from Their shutters? They’re not particularly effective as they come from a time a) before more sophisticated cooling options were available and b) when said countries were extremely poor and couldn’t afford better housing.

I mean it’s nice to know you see this as the aspirational housing blueprint OP 🤣

A really small number of British properties were build with shutters. There are plenty of 100 year old houses around and it’s very clear they weren’t common.

Most new builds i see (my own included) have windows that open inwards.

Im not normally into 'brit bashing'

I love our country

But our housing stock is very varied and not consistently great.

Lots of people are too cold, too hot, struggle with damp, finding fuel expensive, frustrated at poor landlords.

Its also a pretty british thing to have shutters until the last 100 years. its not forrin concept at all. It might be we got rid of them because windows and curtains were better? But my experience with german windows was i want there windows.

Very common in older (Georgian/Victorian) Scottish properties. My tenement flat has wooden shutters, most do around here. And yes they’re great at keeping the heat in during winter and keeping the sun off when it’s hot.

Shhhh. British houses have been SHIT for hundreds of years and anything forrin is ALWAYS superior. Get with the programme

Exactly, other European countries with historically similar climates also don't have shutters but that fact spoils a subtle bit of Brit bashing.

You might also ask why we don't have screens fitted on our windows either, or fans installed with our overhead lights ...

Or have a driveway with car charging point. Grey water recycling and front and back water butts. Micro pond and small tree / large shrub.

Of course they don’t understand. Why would they?

the level of bafflement from the OP is really hard to understand. Do you not realise/ appreciate that different countries have different house building traditions?

Electricity isn't stored except in batteries. That is the issue holding back electric cars, etc. You can put pressure on the supply of continually created electricity.

I've only ever lived in homes with sash windows, as have most people I know so have never given any thought to what direction other window types open! But I can see how outward opening makes external shutters difficult.

IME internal blinds do an excellent job against the sun, so long as you close them before the heat starts to build up. I always leave my upper frames slightly lowered in the shade of the overhang, so that any heat build-up between the blind and the glass can escape.

Even if I've not been home to close the blinds and I come back to a boiling room, just closing the blind makes an immediate and noticeable difference. Then electric fan on for 5 minutes and all is as it should be. Cheap wooden Venetian blinds from IKEA, whit-coated.

I think the general rule is windows open when the sun isn't on them, closed and blinds down when it is. I'd add my exception above to that, but I would hope people would look at their window type and house orientation then research for cooling tips before going for air conditioning, which as PP have pointed out is so bad for the environment.

It's really striking in the UK as everywhere else in Europe seems to have them.

Yes, in many countries. But in my experience most properties with shutters also have air con as well.

There's nothing to stop people installing interior shutters like the bifold ones you find in Georgian/ Victorian houses.

It might help, though they were used back then to keep the cold at bay. A better idea would be attic vents, open windows and interior doors downstairs, and powerful attic fans drawing air up and out. This is how houses were ventilated before residential AC began to proliferate in the region where I live (Midwest US). There were also sleeping porches, basically upstairs extensions with wire mesh screens instead of windows on three sides to keep mosquitos at bay but let in air. Awnings were a very popular option too.

However, shutters are not the same as AC and would not work in places where the summer battle is against humidity plus heat. There's a reason AC was gladly embraced - it works. Ceiling fans also help greatly, in both hot and cold weather, as a boost to AC and heating.

The problem is closing them, if they’re not mechanical. To close, you would need to open the window, reach out and close the shutter. But the window that opens outwards would be in the way of the shutter closing. That’s why, for UK windows, you often need mechanically operated shutters, so you can clos the window, then close the shutter

Denmark is at the latitude of Newcastle upon Tyne though isn't it? Like the UK the hot temperatures have been rare until recently.

I think we need to start adding them. British people don’t seem to understand how to live in hot weather. I grew up in a hot country and have lived in 2 others before moving to the UK. We keep curtains closed and windows shut. (British) dh constantly is trying to open every bloody window and door all day. I’m going around closing everything so we can keep it cool. 😩