The other route (and I looked into it) is to get inside-only a/c (which doesn't need planning permission because there's no outside unit) which uses water as the transport medium instead - so now I'm also using a constant trickle/stream of water from the mains, heating it up to ~45C and then letting it go down the drain. Cost of this ? About £30k
In all, for the few weeks of overly-warm weather per year, I'm better off getting portable a/c units that vent through a window. Or fans.