June’s red weather warning pushed temperatures into the high 30s, and the UK’s heritage sites felt it. Our latest UK Heritage Pulse survey asked people across the sector how the heat affected their buildings, collections, staff and visitors.
In short:
- Three in four sites were directly affected
- The largest and most-visited organisations felt the impacts most
- Energy and welfare costs went up
- Visitor numbers went down,
- A slim majority still feel ready for the next one.
Here are the headlines:
Three in four sites felt the heat
75% of respondents said their site was directly affected by the recent extreme heat (55 of 73), with a quarter of those describing the impact as significant. The hottest outdoor temperature recorded was 38°C – but the standout reading was indoors, where one site hit 40°C, hotter inside than the peak recorded outside. More than half of the sites that logged an indoor temperature reached 30°C or above.
The most common site-level effect was simply the cost of coping: 46% reported increased energy use for cooling and climate control. Difficulty maintaining stable environmental conditions (37%) and higher water consumption (35%) followed, with a quarter noting stress to natural or outdoor environments from scorching and drought.
For sites managing water and landscape, that stress is cumulative. As one park told us:
“…we lost a whole artificial lake in 2022 and this warm weather will ensure that it cannot refill. It is currently overgrown with weeds. Two other lakes can only be kept full by pumping water from an underground aquifer.”
Who felt it most
79% of organisations with paid staff were directly affected, against 65% of volunteer-run ones, and the same gradient showed up in visitor drops (50% versus 31%) and expected costs (46% versus 31%). Potentially bigger, busier locations have more to cool, more people to look after and more visitors to lose.
Two other cuts stood out. Collections holders (museums, libraries and archives) were the most exposed of any group: all of the respondents reported an impact. On readiness, community heritage groups felt least prepared (31%, against 71% of those caring for historic buildings and monuments).
Protecting people came first
Staff and volunteers bore a lot of the day-to-day response. 56% of respondents introduced extra welfare measures such as water, breaks and cooling, and 49% reduced or adjusted working hours. Notably, 44% said concerns about working conditions were raised that needed managing, and a third had staff or volunteers who were unable to work. A smaller group (16%) reported people becoming unwell in the heat.
One volunteer-led site told us:
“All of our regular week day volunteers are over 60, with most over 70, so we put volunteer welfare as the top priority during the recent hot weather. Consequently we cancelled all our public events this week.”
Fewer visitors, and a bill to come
The June heatwave peaked mid-week during term time for most parts of the UK. 44% of respondents saw visitor numbers fall, while events were cancelled or postponed at one in five sites. Some organisations turned the conditions to public benefit, opening up naturally cool spaces. As one church put it:
“Advertised church as a cool space. Temperature inside rose during the week – starting at 20°C, inside on the hottest day was 26°C when it was 35°C outside.”
The financial effect is still to be determined. 42% of respondents expect to incur additional costs as a result of the heat, with a further quarter saying it was simply too early to tell. For the sector’s freelancers, the cost is more immediate. As one put it plainly:
“For freelancers, cancelled work means loss of income.”
Prepared, but with eyes newly opened
Despite all this, confidence held up. 58% of respondents feel prepared for future extreme heat, describing themselves as fairly or very well prepared. That leaves a substantial minority (42%) who feel not very, or not at all, prepared.
Several respondents effectively used the June heatwave as a live stress test and found vulnerabilities they had not anticipated. One told us:
“The power to our main strongrooms failed… humidity alarms and VESDA alarms triggered in other strongroom block; outdoor air used to keep conditions correct was too humid so had to adjust or switch off equipment.”
These experiences revealed weaknesses, before they caused damage or losses.
Signposts to additional reading and resources
- Overheating in Historic Buildings, Historic England
- Climate change advice hub, Historic England
- Environmental monitoring in museums, Collections Trust
- Guidance note on environmental management for collections, Icon
- Managing workplace temperatures, Health and Safety Executive
- Temperature in the workplace: outdoor working, Health and Safety Executive
- Weather-Health Alerting System, UKHSA and the Met Office
- Environmental sustainability good practice guidance, National Lottery Heritage Fund
- Climate resilient church, Church of England (ChurchCare)
- Is your historic park or garden prepared for the climate crisis?, National Lottery Heritage Fund
Pulse Monitor: confident, valued, but more stressed
Alongside the heat questions, our monthly Pulse Monitor tracks the sector’s underlying resilience.
The headline scores stayed strong. Respondents rated their organisation’s likelihood of surviving the next 12 months at 7.7 out of 10, and felt their heritage is valued by its community at 7.6. Confidence in their ability to care for their collections nudged up to 7. Reported stress rose (to 5.2 out of 10) while intention to stay at their current organisation, though still high at 7.1, eased back. A small movement, but worth watching as the sector heads into what may be a long, hot summer. A fuller update will be provided in our next release.
Note: 79 organisations responded to this month’s survey.
Photo by Yasir Ekinci on Unsplash