The long hot summer endured by Australians in the months of December, January and February means we typically design for our houses to remain cool. But when winter rolls around these homes and their occupants certainly feel it down to their bones.

University of Adelaide researcher Lyrian Daniel says it's embedded in the minds of Australians to build for the heat, as opposed to conditions all year round.

"We're so geared towards thinking about summer and heatwaves that really we almost forget about winter," she tells the ABC.

"It's almost incidental, so we don't prepare properly. Many of the things we do to make our houses lovely and breezy and cool in summer are pretty hopeless in winter.

Daniel says that due to the generally mild climate experienced across the country that houses and buildings aren’t built to perform well.

"It really depends on the house but, for example, in the old Queenslanders you might be able to put some ceiling insulation if there's not some already there, some blow-in insulation in the walls, and really insulating that floor as well.

"In winter, we want to try and fill up all of those gaps so that any heat we are putting into the space from an air-conditioning unit or gas heater is going to stay in that space and not just leak out."

The World Health Organisation regards 18 degrees as a safe and well-balanced indoor temperature during the winter months. Homes that are difficult to heat contribute to poor respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes, as well as negative impacts on mental illness. Daniel found a number of homes in Adelaide struggling to reach the 18 degree threshold.

Despite new regulations being put in place to help buildings better regulate temperature, Daniel says they’re better suited to new developments.

"(The regulations are) not so good for an existing home. Often at state level there are initiatives around retrofitting or there might be subsidies for solar panels or energy concessions during winter.

"But we do need to see a national conversation around the current housing stock, which is pretty tricky to retrofit."

The former Labor Government’s Home Insulation Program in 2009 was the scene of controversy and tragedy, but Daniel believes the scheme itself was valuable for Australian homeowners.

"Anecdotally, people we've spoken to as part of our studies were participants in that program and really noticed a huge difference. It was really unfortunate the program faced so many challenges and there were repercussions for workers."

Subsidies of $1,600 for owners and $1,000 to landlords were provided by the government to install insulation, but the unfortunate deaths of four workers and a royal commission led to the program being scrapped.

Daniel says that homeowners can look to improve the performance of their homes in the cooler months through ensuring the building is sealed and well insulated and to make use of government subsidies.

Source: https://www.indesignlive.com/projects/fjmt-bangawarra-blackwattle-bay