Britain's New Homes Are 'Shameful Shoeboxes'

1:12pm UK, Wednesday September 14, 2011

New houses in Britain fail to give families the space they need - and they're getting smaller, architecture industry body RIBA warns.

Newbuild apartments in London
RIBA found the average single storey one bedroom home is 46 sq metres
This is leaving the UK with "shameful shoebox homes" that are the smallest in western Europe.
RIBA looked at 80 sites across the country and found the most common new three-bedroom home was 74 sq metres.
That is only 77% of the minimum size recommended by the Greater London Authority's space standards, meaning it is missing 22 sq metres - the equivalent of two double bedrooms and all their contents.
What's more, the average size of a new home in Britain is now 76 sq metres and has 4.8 rooms, compared to the average overall size of 85 sq metres and 5.2 rooms.

Minimum Space Guidelines

    1-bed flat (2 people):
    50 sq metres
    2-bed flat (4 people):
    70 sq metres
    3-bed house (5 people):
    96 sq metres
Source: Greater London Authority
New-build flats in London
RIBA says that puts Britain behind its European neighbours - in Ireland, for example, new homes are 15% bigger and in Denmark they are 80% bigger.
"Our homes should be places that enhance our lives and well-being," said Harry Rich, RIBA chief executive.
"However, as our new research confirms, thousands of cramped houses - shameful shoe box homes - are being churned out all over the country, depriving households of the space they need to live comfortably and cohesively."
The architects' group claimed that these small homes were not what people wanted: a third of people wouldn't consider buying a new home, its study found, with the room size being the most common discouraging factor.
Mr Rich added: "It seems clear that people have too little influence on the design, quality and size of homes available to them."
Homes under construction
Barratts says it is starting to build more houses than flats due to customer demand
However, the Home Builders Federation said RIBA had to understand the "pressures on land and viability" faced by builders.
"Even with these constraints developers are building the homes that people can afford, that this country desperately needs and providing billions of pounds of investment in infrastructure and the environment," said executive chairman Stewart Baseley.
The RIBA report comes on the day UK housebuilder Barratt Developments said it had turned round last year's losses and made a profit for this year, helped by higher selling prices.
Barratts said this year 66% of its completed homes were houses, rather than flats, compared with 60% last year.
"We are building a higher proportion of houses to satisfy customer demand," it said, adding that it had increased the average size of its social housing to 74.2 sq metres to 75.2 sq metres.