RIBA Average Home Sizes
Over the past few years the RIBA has been researching into the average size of homes in the UK. With the housing crisis still an issue, there are fewer homes being built than there are new households being formed, resulting in increased house prices, a shortage of social housing and shrinking house sizes. Building new homes is the only way to tackle this issue, but the issue goes further than just providing bricks and mortar, the homes created need to satisfy the needs of those who will be living in them.
Research by the RIBA has shown that new homes built in the UK are not providing two out of three top things people look for when buying a home: adequate space inside and outside of the home.
Space is of utmost importance in a home, for example it dictates and impacts on:
- how and where people prepare and eat food;
- how possessions are stored and how the living space looks and feels to inhabit;
- what furniture can be used and the activities it enables;
- whether people can socialise with guests or other members of the household;
- how much privacy people have for studying, working, relaxing or leisure;
- whether there is room for additional changes to the environment, for example to make life easier if the circumstances or health of members of the household change.
It has been proposed that minimum space standards should be introduced to the UK housing. New minimum space requirements based on daily activities and the space needed for them have recently been introduced by the Greater London Authority (GLA) which set minimum gross internal floor areas against the typology of the home (number of bedrooms and storeys) and the designed occupancy level (the number of people the home is designed to accommodate comfortably).
The standards were informed by research by HATC which drew conclusions about how much space is required for the basic daily needs of the household, such as cooking and washing, basic furnishing and space sufficient for eating, socialising and playing. From this ‘safety net’ minimums and recommended usable minimum floor areas were able to be suggested.
As opposed to trying to get as many dwellings onto the site as possible, I would instead prefer to try and form a smaller number of dwellings that take into account the needs of the people would may live there, providing them with quality living spaces. Much like the Lifetime Homes, this ideology is to provide homes that can be inhabited by different people, responding to varying ages and needs. Homes that are able to adapt can be used by different generations, increasing the life span of the dwelling and helping to form vibrant communities.
References:
RIBA (2011) Case for Space [pdf] Available from: https://www.architecture.com/files/ribaholdings/policyandinternationalrelations/homewise/caseforspace.pdf [Accessed 11th November 2015]
RIBA (2015) Home Wise Report [pdf] Available from: https://www.architecture.com/RIBA/Campaigns%20and%20issues/Assets/Files/HomewiseReport2015.pdf [Accessed 3rd December 2015]