The crazy hot weather has finally broken, and as I put the finishing touches to the September issue of The Care Home Environment, it has been feeling pretty autumnal at TCHE towers, and naturally, thoughts have turned to what the fourth quarter may bring.
And it feels to me — with the heavy caveat that I’m still very much a sector newbie — that people involved in care are daring to open their hearts to hope for the first time in a while. Not cautious optimism, but open-chested, full-throated hope, because social care is heading into autumn firmly in the political spotlight.
However, as the weather cools and we assess the aftermath of the relentless heatwaves we’ve experienced this summer, the question of investment to underpin the social care transformation the new Prime Minister is so passionate about is hardening the edge of that hope.
And I’m not talking here about much-needed workforce or service design funding. Those points are being well made elsewhere. I’m talking about physical infrastructure, because if there’s one thing this summer has underlined, it’s the fundamental role of building design in quality of life and wellbeing.
This week, new research in The Lancet Planetary Health found that older adults face greater risks from extreme heat than previously understood, with heat tolerance thresholds exceeded much sooner in people over 60 than in younger populations. It suggests older adults globally could face dangerous heat exposure even under climate scenarios once considered manageable.
The findings come against a backdrop in which older people are already demonstrably paying the price for our changing weather. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) estimated 2,877 heat-associated deaths during the May and June 2026 heat events alone, with the mortality burden already approaching some of the highest annual totals ever recorded.
At the same time, the sector faces broader climate-related threats. Only last week, residents at Barchester Healthcare's newly opened Iverley View care home in Stourbridge had to be evacuated after wildfires spread close to the property. Residents were safely relocated and later returned, but the incident was a stark reminder that risks once associated with southern Europe or North America are becoming a reality in the UK care estate.
Care estate operators and developers have tended to focus on net-zero commitments and carbon reduction targets when it comes to climate concerns. These remain important, but adaptation deserves equal attention. A low-carbon building that becomes dangerously hot during a heatwave has failed its residents. Likewise, a care home located in an area at increased risk of flooding, wildfire or prolonged overheating requires resilience measures that go well beyond standard compliance.
The challenge, of course, is that adaptation costs money. Many providers are already under significant financial pressure, with rising employment costs, workforce shortages and constrained local authority fee settlements.
This is where policymakers need to be honest. If government believes the UK's ageing population requires a care estate capable of withstanding future climate shocks, then long-term investment strategies must recognise adaptation as essential infrastructure investment rather than a discretionary enhancement.
And that means recognising the private sector's role, too. Investors, developers, lenders, insurers and construction firms increasingly understand that climate resilience is becoming an asset-value issue as much as an environmental one. Homes that maintain safe temperatures, protect residents during severe weather and remain operational through disruption will look like stronger long-term investments.
The UK's care home development pipeline also presents a significant opportunity. New-build homes need to be designed from the outset with climate resilience in mind through passive cooling, enhanced ventilation, solar shading, drought-resistant landscaping, energy storage systems, renewable power generation and emergency resilience planning. Retrofitting these measures later is invariably more expensive.
Equally, smart lenders and investors are beginning to assess climate resilience alongside traditional measures such as occupancy, staffing performance and demographic demand. The cost of inaction is likely to grow. The evidence from UKHSA, together with real-world incidents such as the Stourbridge wildfire evacuation, suggests climate-related disruption is becoming a material operational risk rather than a theoretical future concern.
There is, of course, a broader societal issue at stake. England's population is ageing rapidly at precisely the same time as climate risks are intensifying. The care sector sits at the intersection of those two trends - which makes climate adaptation a public health issue, a care quality issue, and increasingly an investment issue.
The lesson from this summer is clear: If we’re serious about improving care for our most vulnerable older people, we must be equally serious about investing in the buildings, systems and infrastructure that will keep them safe in a warming world.
