UK mosques face soaring retrofit costs as heatwaves intensify
A growing number of mosques across London and southeast England are urgently seeking funds to cool their worship spaces
LONDON (MNTV) — A growing number of mosques across London and southeast England are urgently seeking funds to cool their worship spaces, as increasingly severe heatwaves make indoor prayer unbearable.
The challenge is detailed in a recent report by Hyphen, which found that many mosques — especially those in older or converted buildings — are struggling to cope with rising summer temperatures and have little financial capacity to install air conditioning or other cooling systems.
“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.
“They may not have been designed with sufficient blinds, openable windows, fans, air conditioning units or other measures for keeping worshippers cool — especially with peak numbers of worshippers during jummah prayer, when the sun is brightest and temperatures hottest.”
With July temperatures reaching 35.8°C in Kent and more hot spells forecast, the situation is becoming urgent. At Bushey Islamic Circle in Hertfordshire, mosque staff say they’re forced to rely on fans and open doors to create any semblance of airflow.
“We bring in extra fans but they are not powerful enough to cool the entire hall,” said committee member Omar Rehman, speaking to Hyphen.
At Chelmsford Central Mosque in Essex, committee member Ayman Syed said the cost of installing air conditioning is expected to reach between £50,000 and £60,000.
“That money comes from donations from businesses and the community,” he said. The mosque is housed in a red-brick building dating to at least the 1920s — structures known to retain heat for long periods.
Even purpose-built mosques are feeling the strain. “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.
His team decided to install air conditioning several years ago, funded mostly by community donations and mosque reserves. “It has now become a necessary step,” he said.
At East London Mosque — which can accommodate up to 7,000 worshippers — head of facilities Asad Jaman told Hyphen that the mosque has long served as a de facto “cool space” for the community, even if it wasn’t listed in the Mayor of London’s recent “cool spaces” directory. Water fountains and refrigerators with bottled water are made available throughout the building.
“One of the things I do every morning when I come into work is go around and check our high traffic areas,” Jaman 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.”
The mosque is weeks away from completing a full building-wide air conditioning system as part of a £500,000 renovation project.
With no public grants available to support cooling infrastructure, many mosques are calling on local authorities to offer “cool spaces” funding — similar to winter “warm spaces” programs — to help meet the needs of communities facing rising climate stress.
Until then, most will continue to rely on the generosity of their congregations.
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