What this project is about 

People have experienced warmth very differently in Britain across the twentieth century. After the second world war, comfort standards increased for many as central heating systems transformed everyday life, health outcomes, and home environments. But British homes remained some of the coldest in Europe, with growing numbers of people unable to afford the energy to run their heating systems. One in ten households still live in fuel poverty in the UK. The post-1945 promise of warmer homes was not met for all.  

Carbon Bodies documents the uneven transformation of thermal comfort, and the hidden social and health consequences that came from living in cold homes. It traces how heat was framed in policy, and how the responsibility for warmth was passed around the welfare state. The project also spotlights how the right to heat has been defined, articulated and fought for by community groups, activists and charities.

 Heat is intrinsic to the fabric of British society. Thinking beyond technological developments, the project reveals the intimate connection between energy, health, and social change.