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

[DontSingSusan]

I just find it baffling that virtually no buildings in the UK have shutters.

I get that the climate is changing and they wouldn't necessarily have been needed in the past but why don't new builds have them?

Every time there's a heatwave, people are going on about AC, but shutters are a much easier, cheaper and more climate-friendly option.

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

We've got temperatures around 40 degrees all week (not in the UK) and couldn't survive without them.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Yes of course, but traditions don't have to be set in stone. Haven't you heard of climate change adaptation?

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

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.

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 🤣

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

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!

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

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

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.

Ooh. I like the sound of that.

I don't understand your point. Yes, I think old houses with shutters like that have a certain rustic charm. The shutters plus awnings above windows and stone probably mean that house is relatively cool inside.

Who knew this could be such an emotive topic?!

Many UK houses have a bay window (or more than one). I haven't found any viable way to fit shutters on a bay..

Because for 6 months of the year it’s grey, damp and cold.

Many houses do have shutters... on the inside

Our windows open outwards

It was a while ago now, but the showstopper was that they were not permitted in a ‘heritage’ street facing part of a house, and fire safety was also a problem I think, as they are not allowed (in the UK) on a window that forms part of a fire escape route. Which seems fair enough - trapping someone inside a burning building with a metal shutter doesn’t seem ideal. Though, it’s fine elsewhere so are building regs too conservative?

But I think our predecessors were better at designing houses to cope with heat/light/cold than modern ones. We have a south facing edwardian detached house in the UK, with large projecting bays at the front that extend to the upstairs, and bays downstairs only at the back (north). The projecting bays let light in while keeping providing shade in the room itself because of the ‘roof’ on the bay. The high ceilings and sash windows mean that air circulates well without fan assistance. And it also has internal shutters at the front. There are mature trees in the front and back gardens. I’m not there this summer, but based on the hot summers of 2016, 2018 and 2022, closing the shutters and using the natural designed-in shade of a bay window kept the inside perfectly pleasant even with temperatures in the 30s. Come the evening open the sash windows top and bottom, and those windows at the back (north) of the house and it’d cool down to low twenties over night. With added bonus of the north facing garden being big enough to always have somewhere sunny, but also lovely and shady near the house so preventing the back warming up too much in the first place! In the winter the lower sun provides plenty of useful solar gain through the same big bay windows, and come the event shutter and curtains keep the heat in. For ventilation just crack the bottom sash open a little, and all the hot if, which rises up in the room, stays inside :)

I assumed the same. I was thinking electric/ones that wind down rather than the traditional ones that open to each side.

I was thinking only a couple of weeks ago that this horrible heatwave is a business opportunity in many ways.

If you're an inventive person, a scientist, engineer or any kind of creative really, there are just SO many things we need to change.

Clothing that keeps you cool, room coolers which don't use electricity or which don't depend on CFCs etc, architectural adaptations - re-popularising awnings, as a pp said. I've seen a lot of people with those plastic neck-coolers, for eg.

Some people's conservatories are going to be hellish...so perhaps that industry will disappear!