Heba Sami, 38, says her four-bedroom basement flat in Warwick Avenue, London, has remained so cool during the UK's record-breaking heatwave that she has been shivering under her duvet. While temperatures outside soared to 36.4°C, her flat has not climbed above 24 degrees Celsius, according to her thermometer.
Scaffolding Keeps Flat Cool
The secret to the flat's low temperature is scaffolding that blocks sunlight from streaming through the windows. Heba, a freelancer and artist, returned to the flat—once her childhood home—with the intention of selling it. With barely any furniture inside, there is little to retain warmth.
She said: "It's a basement flat and in addition to that it's a large four-bed so when the sun shifts to one side it can't reach the other side. By the time it reaches one side the other side cools. I was in my flat thinking it's a heatwave and laughing at the fact I'm fully clothed in my duvet shivering."
Viral TikTok and Flood of Requests
After sharing her astonishment at the remarkably low temperature on TikTok, Heba revealed her comments section had been flooded with "never-ending memes" and people branding her a "show off." She "didn't intend" for it to go viral, but followers were quick to joke about moving in temporarily to escape the scorching heat.
"The top comments are 'you're ill,'" she said. "I'm like 'okay, great' but I'm still very hot outside the flat so I don't think I'm ill and my mum is a doctor so I think I'd know if I was ill."
Waiting List for the Cool Flat
Heba has been inundated with messages from people desperate to move in during the heatwave. "The other comments are 'when can we move in?' And I've just been telling people to join the waiting list," she said. The flat, which has been warming up slightly, still remains the coolest spot in London during the extreme weather.
