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

Slightly off topic but I live in a street that is 94% council houses and the street was built in 1898.
The council recently had a maintenance drive on the street and changed all the roofs, windows and doors.
They took out all the old windows and replaced then with lovely new sash windows, keeping in line with the architecture. They also put in traditional style doors, not the plain white bog standard ones. I was so impressed.

and I'm fuming about why people think air con is the answer, just LTB.

It's all part of a sinister plot orchestrated by a cabal of air conditioning companies.

Or UK houses being built down to a budget.

That’s a good idea. I agree about having the shading on the outside.
we’ve got huge south facing windows and in previous years I tried various blinds but they didn’t do much as the glass still heats up from the sun. Our quick free fix has been a couple of old bedsheets hung outside and we tie them up once the sun has gone round. It’s reduced the indoor heat enough that we can use that room to eat and relax. Might not be the prettiest thing but highly effective.

Shutters and fly screens are definitely the way to go. And screen doors.

I wish they would! We've lived in London for 24 years and there have been 6 heatwaves in that time. Despite fitting solar control blinds on all the west facing windows and putting solar control glass in the bedrooms, this year we've struggled to keep the temperature below 30 degrees upstairs.

Our windows probably need changing soon and if there's anything better on the market, I'm up for it!

Property building is an oligopoly (dominated by a small number of similar firms) with no incentive to change the way they do things.

The Tories really should have given a little thought to what type of market they were dealing with.

It's not 5 years though. There's been a heatwave in London on average every 4 years for the last 24 years. There's more than enough justification for change in the SE. People die as a result of the flats that can't be cooled down.

This summer has shown quite clearly that they are if you have south facing windows and no overhang.

That is a good idea. I'm going to check planning regulations on that as I've only seen them on flats.

What's the windows opening outward issue? If it's hot enough to have shutters down my windows would be closed to keep the heat out anyway.

All buildings are about ten years out of date by the time they're actually ready to be used. I think that has to be one of the reasons.

Heatwaves have mostly not been all summer though. We have tended to have longer periods when it’s cold and planning has been around conserving heat and making sure the elderly don’t die when it’s cold! Now we need to make sure they don’t die when it’s hot. My parents in law had an awning across the back of the house. Difficult at the front in many ways but even if half the house is shaded it’s not a bad thing. They take maintenance though. It’s still pretty easy to buy fans and blinds to keep out the sun.

I don't get that either. If you needed to open the window, you'd open the shutter, then the window, then reverse to close?

If you do want solar control blinds for the inside though @CoffeeCantata they already exist and are easy to get from any of the big blind retailers.

I have a horrible feeling that they're not allowed locally as logically if they were, someone would have them.

I'm going to look into it when I get back from holiday (large outer London council).

Nearly all houses in Europe (ok I looked at Netherlands and further south) seem to manage to have external shutters or awnings so that windows can be shaded but still open for ventilation. The solutions exist.
It would need a change of both planning guidance and building regulations as well as the supply chain for windows to be completely changed, as many of the current type of outward opening casements would need to change to tilt and turn. Possible, but would need a strong steer from government to action. But like UPVC windows, in 10-15 years a lot of homes would change over to the new system.

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. 😩

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?