In Forest Gate, Manor Park, Plaistow, Upton Park and East Ham, the typical home is a two-storey terraced house with a bay window, a rear outrigger and a small garden. Here a multi-split with one condenser at the back usually cools the bedrooms well, with pipework running through the loft and down the rear wall. Many of these houses hold larger households or are let to sharers, so durable equipment, simple controls and straightforward servicing matter as much as cooling capacity.
South of the A13, the Royal Docks have been transformed. Apartment blocks line Royal Victoria Dock and the Thames at Silvertown and Royal Wharf, beside ExCeL, London City Airport and the University of East London's Docklands campus, while Canning Town and Custom House have been extensively rebuilt. Generous glazing facing the water and limited opening windows mean upper-floor flats can overheat on summer afternoons, and building rules decide what cooling can be added.
Shopping streets such as Green Street, around Queen's Market, and East Ham High Street are lined with independent retailers, restaurants, jewellers and salons, many trading from older buildings with flats above that have never had cooling. Beckton and the docks add warehouses and trade units. Stratford, in the west of the borough, has its own page. Across Newham, the survey usually begins with a practical question: where can an outdoor unit sit without blocking a yard, a fire exit or a neighbour's window?
