Mosques in southern England face five-figure bills to heatproof themselves
Religious buildings, many of them not originally designed to house large numbers of worshippers, are increasingly vulnerable to extreme heat
Freelance reporter
Mosques in London and the south-east say they need to raise tens of thousands of pounds to make worship spaces bearable during the summer months.
The issue is most pressing for those occupying older premises that lack significant cash reserves to cover retrofitting as climate change makes extreme heat more common in the UK.
“Managing the impact of heatwaves could pose a particular challenge to mosques located in converted buildings,” said Dr Naomi Green, assistant secretary general at the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). “They may not have been designed with sufficient blinds, openable windows, fans, air conditioning units or other measures for keeping worshippers cool in such hot temperatures — especially with peak numbers of worshippers during jummah prayer, when the sun is brightest and temperatures hottest.”
London and the south-east often bear the brunt of the UK’s heatwaves due to both geography and the urban heat island effect. Temperatures at the start of July peaked at 35.8C in Kent, with further heatwaves forecast for mid-August.
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On hot days, both Bushey Islamic Circle in Hertfordshire and Chelmsford Central Mosque in Essex still rely heavily on fans. Soon, they say, they will have no option but to retrofit the buildings with air conditioning.
“We bring in extra fans but they are not powerful enough to cool the entire hall and we end up leaving the doors open in an attempt to create a breeze,” said Omar Rehman, a mosque committee member at Bushey Islamic Circle.
But air conditioning is expensive. As there are no public grants available, smaller places of worship in particular — those without the backing of an umbrella trust that runs multiple mosques — will be relying on the generosity of their congregations.
“It is costing us £50,000 to £60,000,” said Ayman Syed, a committee member at the Chelmsford mosque. “That money comes from donations from businesses and the community.”
The mosque occupies a red-brick building in a terrace dating back at least as far as the 1920s, according to local records. Such buildings are particularly hot in summer, as the clay bricks retain heat and release it slowly.
But newer buildings aren’t immune. “When mosques like Finsbury Park were built 30 to 40 years ago, they were not designed to deal with heatwaves,” said Mohammed Kozbar, chair of Finsbury Park Mosque.
Kozbar and his team took the pricey decision to fit air conditioning across the building, which sees 2,000 worshippers attend jummah prayer each Friday, a few years ago. The majority of the money for the air conditioning came from the mosque’s reserve funds and money donated by the congregation.
“Air conditioning is expensive,” said Kozbar, “but it ensures our mussaleen (worshippers) are relaxed and comfortable. It has now become a necessary step.”
Muslim organisations are hopeful that local authorities could step in to help by introducing “cool spaces” grants that they could apply for — similar to the existing system of warm spaces grants, which fund places where those in need can shelter during cold weather. Nadia Minhas, a climate action officer at the Muslim Charities Forum, also pointed to councils including Southwark and Camden in London that offer funding for energy efficiency measures to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings — something that would not include air conditioning but could include measures such as insulation to help keep heat out.
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In June, the mayor of London released a map of registered “cool spaces” across London, listing hundreds of libraries, churches, community centres and museums that have taken it on themselves to offer shelter during hot weather. The directory did not include any mosques.
Asad Jaman, head of assets and facilities at the East London Mosque — one of London’s largest with a capacity of 7,000 — said he had been unaware that the centre could register with City Hall in this way, but pointed out that it had been providing such a service for years.
Members of the local Muslim community are welcome to seek respite from hot weather in the prayer halls, he said, and water fountains and refrigerators stocking water bottles have been placed in accessible areas.
Jaman added that the East London Mosque was weeks away from installing a building-wide air conditioning system, part of a wider refurbishment plan that cost half a million pounds.
“One of the things I do every morning when I come into work is go around and check our high traffic areas,” he said. “You’ll find people lying in the main prayer hall, taking in the coolness and the calmness of the area. In fact, there are people sleeping there as I speak.”
