Aimée Daniels says Preston weather has pushed sales of her £89 clip-on awnings higher this week, as people look for ways to cut heat at windows without drilling from outside. The founder of Shaded designed the detachable awning after the heatwave of 2022, and she says this week’s rare red weather warning has sharpened demand.
Aimée Daniels and Shaded
Daniels said the idea came from a west-facing London flat during the heatwave of 2022. “It was just brutal,” she said. “I was looking at my windows and thinking, ‘Why isn’t there something that you don’t have to drill in from the outside?’.” She said the awning clips to sash window frames, is installed from the inside, is renter-friendly, and adjusts to suit windows of various widths.
Sales of Shaded’s awnings have shot up this week. Daniels said, “I am slightly worried that there will be some demand I won’t be able to keep up with.” For people trying to act quickly, the design gives a ready-made option without needing work on the outside of a building.
Marc Alabaster and Brise Soleil UK
Marc Alabaster, a graphic designer and owner of Brise Soleil UK, said he first understood the effect of poor solar control eight years ago, after glass doors were installed at his West Sussex home. “The kitchen was 40-plus degrees,” he said, after the doors magnified the afternoon sun. He later saw an apartment building in Spain wrapped in louvre-like rows of angled fins or blades and said, “I was like, ‘that’s fantastic’.” He added, “It’s French for sun-breaker.”
His experience points to a practical split now shaping the market: temporary fixes are appearing fast, while more permanent external shading solutions remain available for buildings that can take them. That gap matters most for older homes, where responsibility for adapting often falls to individual homeowners rather than builders.
Mott MacDonald on overheating
Ruth Shilston, global discipline lead at Mott MacDonald, said, “The UK needs sustained investment in infrastructure and public spaces so that our buildings, transport systems and cities are designed to cope with future heat.” The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers says most UK homes do not have external shading, and schools, hospitals and care homes in the UK risk becoming unsafe during heatwaves partly because of inadequate shading.
This week’s rare red weather warning has brought those gaps into sharper focus, because people have turned to whatever they can use quickly. Some have stuck cardboard or reflective materials to their windows, and some have smeared yoghurt on them, even though more durable shading options already exist.
Kemp Sails and Shade Solutions
Owain Peters, general manager at Kemp Sails, said the Dorset company used its sail-making skills to build Shade Solutions. “We thought, ‘we’ve got loads of expert sewing machinists and large sewing machines – let’s apply that’,” he said. “It’s been a runaway success.”
For households and companies facing another hot spell, the immediate choice is now between improvised fixes and products made for repeated use. The pressure is on the same windows either way, but the wider question is how many UK homes, schools, hospitals and care homes still need proper external shading.
