How Can A Bespoke Home Office Cope With Extreme Heat?

As British summers get hotter, people working from home may find the environment to be increasingly uncomfortable on some days. However, with the right design, fixtures and fittings, you can still have an office that is comfortable and practical in any weather.

If ever there were two trends that were sure to collide at some point, they are the growth in home working and the increasing temperatures of the British summer. After Britain recorded its hottest May days ever last month, it could be about to do likewise in June.

This situation could cause a lot of problems for home workers, as British homes are not designed to cope with heat in the way that they would be in countries like Spain or Australia.

How Hot Are British Summers Becoming?

Although there are still some who question the anthropocentric causes of climate change, it has been clear from recent weather records that Britain’s summers have been getting noticeably hotter:

• The Met Office has predicted that the latest hot spell will break the UK temperature record for June of 35.6 C, measured in 1976
• May saw temperatures as high as 35.1 degrees C, a new record for the month, with 163 weather stations breaking their maximum weather temperature records for the month
• A temperature exceeding 40 C was measured for the first time in the UK in 2022, beating the previous record of 38.7 C set in 2019
• Of the 20 warmest summers on record, dating back to 1889, half have come in the 21st century and seven of them in the last ten years
• 2025 was the hottest summer on record

This is all clear evidence that summers have been getting hotter and whether or not efforts to cut carbon and increase the use of renewables bear fruit in the years to come, it is likely that, at the very least, summers will get significantly hotter still in the years to come.

How Can Rooms Be Made Cooler On Very Hot Days?

For this reason, it is obvious that working at home on hot days could be very uncomfortable unless steps are taken to ensure that the workplace is made as cool and comfortable as possible.

Some obvious steps could be taken to make any room cooler:

• Installing air-conditioning or using fans
• Having windows that can open to catch the breeze
• Using a north-facing room that does not get direct sunlight in the middle of the day (although this may not always be feasible)
• Installing reflective window film

These tend not to be things that take up space or impact much on the alignment or form of the furniture and fittings in the room. However, the design of the office can also play a role.

If you want a bespoke home office that can stay cool in hot weather, one of the key steps we can take in our high-quality design and manufacturing is to build in storage that creates space for you to take extra beneficial steps in creating a cool microclimate.

A good example of this is the use of plants. They are an effective means of cooling the air, as well as cleaning it, which is good news if you live in an urban area with poorer air quality.

However, to have standing or potted plants, you need appropriate spaces to put them. You don’t want them becoming trip hazards or taking up valuable desk space. That means using bespoke design to create places where they can go.

This can be achieved by having vertical spaces, such as shelves, on which small plants can be placed, or using the space in the home office so efficiently through the design of storage space and work furniture, so that there is more floor space for bigger standing plants.

How Can A Green Wall Create A Cooler Home Office?

If this is true for having a few plants placed around your home office, it is even more so if you plan the most radical step, that of a green wall.

This involves installing green plants that either climb or dangle down the side of the wall, which can be transformational.

However, it does require quite a bit of design and assembly work to put it together, including a frame to hold them in place and waterproof backing, not to mention a means of regularly watering your plants.

It also needs to be in a place that gets regular direct sunlight, so this will not work if your office faces away from the sun.

As with having plants arranged around the office, it will make the air cooler and cleaner, especially if you choose the right species, such as ferns or spider plants. Further benefits include acting as sound insulation and increasing humidity if the room is very dry.

However, while this may be a very effective option for cooling the office and also a visually impressive one, the fact that you are using a whole wall for this does come with the obvious issue that you are giving up space you could have used in other ways. 

This means you need to efficiently accommodate everything else you need in the office in the remaining space, including the desk, chairs, files, equipment, books and whatever else is required to help you do your job.

Our made-to-measure integrated design solutions can meet this challenge every time.

Whether that means custom-shaped storage to make use of every nook and cranny, or means of providing more vertical storage such as floor-to-ceiling shelves, we can design a multi-purpose unit that works for you.

How Can The Right Colours Make A Home Office Cooler?

Another means of keeping a room cool is based on colours. Some colours will absorb heat more and some less. Our bespoke designs can work with any colour scheme, but if you want something that absorbs heat rather than reflecting it, certain hues will keep the room cooler.

• White is the best colour for reflecting light
• Other light colours that can keep the temperature down include pale green, blue or grey
• These can complement outside colours, which may reduce the amount of heat reflecting off walls and through your home office window

Light-coloured furniture may, therefore, be the best option for a room to keep it cool.

Our furniture designs reflect generations of British craftsmanship, but they can also be tailored to reflect the reality that our climate, like our work styles, is changing.

It is because of these developments that we use the most modern design methods to create great bespoke workspaces in rooms not originally designed for this purpose, to ensure they meet all your needs.