The West Midlands Overheat Report.
British homes are built to hold heat — and every summer more of them become uninhabitable for days at a time. This report tracks real, anonymised results from homeowners across the region using our Heat Trap Checker: which homes overheat worst, where, and why.
Early findings — based on the first 0 checks. Every new check updates this page.
- Homes checked
- 0
- Average score
- 0/100
- High or severe risk
- 0%
- Hottest district
- —
Which areas overheat worst.
Average Overheat Score by postcode district, from homeowners who chose to add the first half of their postcode. Districts with a single check are shown for completeness — treat them as a pointer, not a verdict.
The map is waiting for its first pins.
Take the 60-second check, add your postcode district, and your area appears here.
Check my homeThe homes that suffer most.
By property type
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By build era
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By worst room
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By window direction
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The pattern in the data matches building physics: top-floor flats, loft conversions and post-2005 airtight homes score highest; pre-1930 solid-brick houses with high ceilings score lowest. South and south-west glass is the single biggest room-level driver — every square metre of sunlit glazing adds roughly the heat of a small electric fire through the afternoon.
How this data is collected.
- ✓ Self-reported via the 6-question Heat Trap Checker on this site — calculated on the visitor's device, then stored anonymously.
- ✓ No names, emails, phone numbers or full postcodes are ever attached to a score. District-level (e.g. B63) is the most precise location stored, and only when the visitor opts in.
- ✓ The score weights roof exposure, solar gain, airtightness and night-time heat storage — the four drivers recognised in UK overheating research and Part O of the Building Regulations (2022).
- ✓ This page re-reads the full dataset on every visit — figures are always current.
Journalists: this data is yours to use.
Every figure on this page may be republished with attribution to CoolAir Midlands and a link to this page. Need a specific cut — by town, property type, or heatwave period — or an installer's comment for a story? We reply same day.
Report questions.
Where does this data come from?+
Every figure on this page comes from our free Heat Trap Checker — a 60-second self-assessment where homeowners answer 6 questions about their property (type, age, worst room, window direction, glazing and night-time temperatures). Scores are submitted anonymously; we never store names or contact details with them.
What does the Overheat Score measure?+
It's a 0–100 measure of how badly a home is likely to overheat in a UK heatwave, based on building physics: roof exposure, solar gain through glazing, airtightness of the construction, and how much heat the building fabric stores into the evening. 55+ means fans won't cope in a hot spell; 75+ is a severe heat trap.
Why do only the first half of postcodes appear on the heat map?+
Privacy. A full postcode can identify a handful of houses. A postcode district (e.g. B63) covers thousands of homes, which is enough to show area-level patterns without identifying anyone.
Can journalists or researchers use this data?+
Yes — with attribution to CoolAir Midlands and a link to this page. For breakdowns by town, property type or time period that aren't shown here, email coolairmidlands@gmail.com and we'll pull the cut you need.
My home scored high. What can I actually do about it?+
Shading, night purging and fans help up to a point, but once a building has stored several days of heat only active cooling brings a room back down. A single-room air conditioning install starts from £1,950 fully fitted with 0% VAT — and the same unit heats the room cheaply in winter.