Perhaps unusually amongst UK architects, my training is in both engineering and architecture. My Part 1 was a four-year masters degree, jointly accredited by RIBA and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, with a particular focus on environmental design. I am therefore more ready than most traditionally educated architects to fully embrace the geeky details of M&E reports and discussions around ventilation strategies.

In the current heat wave friends from my Part 1 and I have dredged our memories and the leftover textbooks on our shelves for passive cooling measures to implement at home. We’ve tried ventilating behind closed blinds and placing fans in front of drying washing for evaporative cooling.

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